Backstabber
by pikapikatchu
Summary: "Just because it could've been worse doesn't mean it wasn't bad."  When the DNA tech is acting weird, Greg tries to find out what's going on, not knowing what dangerous mess he's getting himself into.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my dear readers! Here is my latest story :) I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Robin Davies, the new DNA tech, was working at the lab for a few months now. She fitted in well, she already made friends both with the lab rats and the CSIs. She was just a likable person.<p>

10 p.m. She woke up to get ready for work.

"Come on, just ten more minutes..." Officer Karen Morris, Robin's girlfriend, said, gently pulling Robin back into bed.

"No," she chuckled. "I don't want to be late again. Maybe you should sleep at your place when you don't have to go to work the graveyard shift."

"Jealous that I got the night off?" Karen chuckled sleepy.

"Duh! 'Course I am!" She went into the bathroom to take a shower.

After getting dressed and having a bite to eat, she gave Karen a kiss. "Call me when you're up." She went out of the apartment.

Half a minute after Robin left, Karen heard the front door being smashed open. She awoke with a start. "Jesus Christ, don't startle me like that. Did you forget something?" She sat up. She got a little nervous when Robin didn't respond, nor did she walk into the bedroom. The door didn't close, either, but she heard noise coming from the living room. "...Honey?" She got out of bed and walked towards the living room. While she was walking through the hallway, Robin walked towards her. Behind her were four men with knifes in their hands.

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><p>"Have you seen her today?" Nick asked Sara impatiently as he was sitting in Robin's chair in the DNA lab.<p>

Sara was standing next to him, filling out some forms. "No, maybe she's on her break already."

Greg entered. "Hey guys. Have you seen Robin? It's important."

They shook their heads.

"Did she call in sick? This lab looks like no evidence has been processed today."

"Well if she did, Russell didn't tell me. He would've taken care of someone to fill in for her, anyways. She must be here somewhere," Nick replied.

It was already 2 a.m., Robin was supposed to be here by midnight.

Greg tilted his head back annoyed. "I need this processed now! Where the hell is she?"

"Guess someone will have to take care of the DNA evidence, then," Nick said teasing.

Rolling his eyes, Greg replied, "I have a dozen things to do right now, I can't take care of the DNA evidence, too!"

"I'm not sure you have a choice here..." When Sara ended her sentence, Robin rushed in.

"Hey guys," she said, looking like she was in a hurry.

"Hey. Where have you been?"

"I've run a little late, sorry. What can I do for you?"

All three of them handed her some evidence bags. Greg also handed her some files. "My case could be related to these, please check if the DNA matches."

Before they left, Sara noticed something was wrong with Robin. "Are you alright? You don't look too good."

Robin nodded with a smile on her face. "I just feel like I'm getting the flu or something, is all."

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><p>Greg's case was getting more complicated and he had even more reason to believe that the murderer he was looking for was a serial killer. He needed to get evidence that was collected in the other cases and compare the findings to the new evidence, so he went into the evidence storage room. While going through some evidence boxes, he heard someone curse. He thought he'd recognized the voice and decided to look who it was. It was Robin, nervously shoving around evidence boxes.<p>

"...Robin? What are you doing in here?"

She startled. "Greg. I'm sorry, I didn't know someone else was here. I'll be quiet."

He walked up closer to her to see what boxes she was looking at. "Are you looking for something?"

"Uhm... yeah. Yeah. I wanted to look for some evidence connected to the cases you handed me the files to. You know, I wanted to be thorough."

"That's nice of you, but... You won't find them here. The cases are three years old, the boxes you're going through are only a few weeks old."

She laughed nervously. "I still don't really get the arrangement system..."

"They're arranged by the year they were brought in... What's going on?"

She looked surprised. "Nothing," she replied with a fake smile.

"I'm looking right at you, something's going on. Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "I just needed to be alone and when I noticed someone was here I pretended to look through these boxes, you know..."

Greg nodded. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business. But if you need anything, let me know, alright?" He gave her a smile as he walked away.

Robin sighed. That was close. She wanted to tell Greg so badly what was going on, but she didn't want to drag anyone into this. She kept on fumbling through the boxes. Finally, she found what she was looking for.

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><p>Nick and Greg were joking around while walking through the hallway. Nick was on his way to the DNA lab while Greg had trace evidence to be processed by Hodges. When Nick and Greg wanted to go their separate ways, Robin bumped into Greg.<p>

"Uh, sorry!" she said hastily.

"Hey, Robin," Nick said as she tried to walk past them.

"...Yeah?"

"Where are you going?"

"...Taking a break."

"You came to work two hours ago and you're on a break already? I need you to process this now." He held up a bag of evidence.

She sighed. "Greg, could you fill in for me? It'll only take, like, an hour."

"...Now? Robin, I'm swamped in work, so are you. I can't do two people's work when both of us have too much work for one person to handle already!"

"Please! You just said if I needed anything I could ask you." She had a really desperate look on her face.

"Yeah but that wasn't quite what I meant." Feeling bad for her, he finally said, "Alright, one hour. But would you at least tell me what's goin..."

"Thanks!" she replied, not even letting him finish, and walking off.

Nick and Greg shared a look.

"Alright, then." Nick put his evidence bag on the pile of files Greg was carrying around. "Have fun!"

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><p>"Oh, shoot!" Greg exclaimed while he was handing Nick the results to some of his evidence.<p>

"What is it?" Nick asked puzzled.

Greg pointed at Russell, walking towards the DNA lab. "I think he's headed at the DNA lab."

"So?"

"So? Robin's going to be in big trouble if he finds out I'm filling in for her."

Nick looked at his watch. "It's been almost two hours, where is she, anyways?"

Russell went in. "Hey guys, where's Robin?"

"Oh, uh... Just hand the evidence over, I'll make sure she gets it." Greg offered with an uncomfortable smile.

"...Or I could just wait here until she comes back, right?" Russell answered with a smile on his face. He eyed up Greg. He was wearing a lab coat and gloves, it was unusual for him to wear it in the DNA lab. "Why are you wearing this?"

While Greg was looking for the right answer, Nick said, "He'd find out sooner or later, with your name on the report and all. And with his way of reading you like an open book anytime you lie, you might as well tell him now."

"Tell me what?" Russell asked interested. He already noticed Greg was trying to hide something. He really could read him like an open book.

Greg sighed. "Robin needed to run some errand and asked me to fill in for her while she's out..."

"She already came late to work and now leaves without even telling me? What's going on?"

"I-I don't know, she was supposed to be back by now."

"Did you try to call her?"

Greg nodded. "She's not answering her phone."

Russel looked at his watch. "How long is she been gone?"

"Two hours. She said she'd only be away for an hour. She didn't look too good when she left, I'm starting to worry."

"Alright. I'm sure she'll come back here sometime... But Greg? I hope your work as a CSI doesn't come short by this?"

"No, of course not..."

"Good. Come by my office later, we need to talk about this." He left.

"Someone's in trouble..." Nick said rather mocking as he walked out, not seeing the look Greg gave him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2! Thanks for the review! :) I hope all you guys like this story so far. It's gonna be good, I feel it! :)**

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><p>The stress of working two jobs at once had worn off a bit, everyone got the results they needed and he was waiting on results himself for the case he was working on. He walked into the AV lab, where Sara was discussing something about her case with Archie. "Still no word from her," Greg said as he entered the lab. He had a worried look on his face.

"You shouldn't worry, Greg. I'm sure everything's fine," Sara said, trying to comfort him. "We should talk with Russell, though. We should ask him if someone should drive over to her place and check on her. Come on."

When the two went out of the A/V lab, they spotted Robin, walking in their direction.

"Robin," Sara said surprised and a bit relieved.

"Where were you?" Greg asked, looking as surprised as Sara.

"Thanks for filling in for me, Greg. I'm sorry it took me so long...", Robin said with a faint smile on her face.

"What did you have to take care of?"

"...It's kind of personal, you know..."

"It stops being personal once you do it in your work time, you know?" Greg was quite annoyed right now. He tried to be understanding but he was too stressed out.

"I said I'm sorry. I apologize." She tried to walk away from the two. "Now if you'll excuse me..."

"What's going on with you, Robin?" Greg asked, touching her arm, trying to keep her from walking away.

She reacted as if he tried to hit her, forcefully pulling away. "I can't deal with you right now!" she yelled, walking away.

Both Greg and Sara stood there quite shocked. Archie was quite confused as well, walking out of his lab. "What was THAT?"

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><p>Greg followed Robin. Again, she was in the evidence storage room. "Robin? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."<p>

She was standing with her back turned to him, crying. "It's not your fault."

"I've never seen you like that before. What's going on with you?"

She shook her head. She couldn't talk with all the tears running down her cheeks.

"Listen... You don't have to tell me, but... Work it out somehow. We need you here at the lab and we need you to give 100%. Plus, I really hate to see you like that..."

She turned him and smiled faintly. "It's not that easy..."

"Well it can't be THAT bad, right? Whatever it is, it'll work out alright, I'm sure."

She laughed a bit. Not because she thought his attempts at making her feel better were cute, but because she honestly didn't believe him. "I'm in really big trouble, Greg, and... I don't see a way to make this better."

"Well then... At least don't go through it alone."

"I can't tell you, it's..." She cried.

He sighed worried as she leaned into his arms, crying her eyes out.

She cried for minutes in his arm, then pulled back. "Could you give me a few minutes alone...?"

He nodded. "...Sure." He walked out.

Minutes later, Robin came out of the room, too. "...You waited for me?" she asked Greg rather annoyed as he stood there next to the door.

"Well, yeah. Just wanted to make sure you'll be alright."

She took her eyes off him and walked past him, towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" He followed her. "If you can't do your job, tell Russell. You can't just leave like that."

"I'm not leaving. I just need to run some errands. I'll be back in half an hour."

"Another errand? Robin, I understand that you're not feeling well, but I can't replace you in the lab today. I have other stuff to do!"

"You'll be fine," she replied without looking at him even once. She walked out of the lab.

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><p>"Good work," one of the men said. He was holding a CD in his hand.<p>

Robin just stared at him, sitting on her couch. "Now that you got what you wanted..."

"Not so fast. There's one more thing I need you to do."

"What? But you said once I gave you the CD you'll leave..."

"I lied. Big deal. But this time I mean it. This one thing and we'll be gone..."

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><p>Robin was walking out of the break room with a cup of coffee in her hand. She walked into the DNA lab where Greg was working on a DNA sample. "Hey..."<p>

He looked up from the microscope. "You're back?"

She nodded. "Peace offer?" She showed him the cup.

After thinking about it for a second, he gave her a forgiving smile and stood up. He put the lab coat off and walked over to her. "So did you take care of your problem?" he asked, noticing she looked much better than before.

"Almost..." she replied as she handed him the cup. Before he could grab it, she spilled it all over him. "Jesus! Greg, I'm SO sorry!"

"...Don't sweat it," he said a bit annoyed, trying not to show it. After all, she tried to make it up to him. "I guess I just got lucky the coffee wasn't hot."

"Sorry. I probably should've checked if it still was hot before making it a peace offer."

"Well I'm glad you didn't." He smiled at her.

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><p>She followed him into the locker room where he got spare clothes out of his locker. All the way to the locker, she talked with him.<p>

"I'm just gonna take a quick shower."

"Sure. And I'll... take care of the DNA evidence!" she replied with a big smile on her face. Before he walked away, she gave him a hug. He was a bit surprised, but appreciated the gesture. What he didn't notice was that she hugged him to keep his locker from closing. When he left she quickly got his gun out of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Another chapter is up! I'm glad some of you like the story so far! :)**

**Just a little info I thought I should give you: I don't include Morgan into my stories because I don't think she could add anything useful to it. I don't really like the character and wouldn't even know how to write her. We'll see about Elizabeth Shue's character, hopefully I will be able to include her. But in my "universe", Morgan doesn't exist... hope that's alright for everybody :) Now enjoy!**

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><p>When Robin was opening the door of her car, she heard someone behind her say, "Leaving already?" She turned around.<p>

Nick was standing there with a wary look on his face.

"I'll be back in an hour."

"What the hell's going on with you? You can't just leave whenever you want to. Does Russell know about it this time?"

"You're not my boss, so don't tell me what I can and can't do," she replied coldly.

He laughed a bit as he rolled his eyes. "So who's gonna fill in for you this time? Greg, again?"

"He doesn't mind, so why do you?"

"What's gotten in you? You've never been like this."

"Oh grow up, Nick! Nobody's like they act in front of other people!" She got into her car and drove away.

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><p>The relationship between the CSIs and Robin was a bit strained to say the least. Greg was mad at her for leaving again after telling him she'd take care of the DNA evidence. He got in trouble with Russell for not telling him he was filling in for Robin in the first place and got a lecture about obligation and priorities. Nick was mad at her for acting the way she acted that day. Sara was disappointed. She didn't expect her to be that way to anyone, she used to be such a nice person. And Russell, of course, was angry with her for neglecting her job. He never asked her why, he didn't care. To him, there was no reason to behave that way. She got a similar lecture as Greg and he threatened to suspend her for a day, but didn't. They needed her at the lab. But he also told her she'd be fired if she ever did something like that again.<p>

A few days have passed and Robin went back to the way she was before that day, except the fact that she didn't act too friendly with the CSIs. She knew she had to make it all up to them, but didn't know how. She thought she'd wait a while for them to cool off and try it then. She tried to avoid them as much as possible. She was embarrassed. She never meant to hurt or upset anyone but didn't know any other way to deal with her situation. She was sure, if they knew why she did it, they'd understand. But they could never find out.

While working on some DNA samples, she saw Bobby Dawson running into Russell's office. A minute later, Russell yelled for Greg.

Greg hurried inside, thinking about what he might've done wrong. He couldn't think about anything. "Yeah?"

"Close the door," Russell demanded in a serious voice.

Greg did. "What's wrong?" He looked questioning at Bobby. He just looked away, looking at Russell.

"Sit down." Russell's tone didn't get any better, only worse.

Greg got worried. He sat down with a confused look on his face. "Has this anything to do with..."

Russell interrupted him. "Where's your gun?"

"My gu...? In my locker."

"When was the last time you carried it?"

"Listen, I know I don't carry it as much as I should, but..." Greg replied, trying to find excuses. Truth was, he didn't feel too comfortable with a gun, despite carrying one for a few years now.

"Just answer my question." Russell seemed to be getting angry.

Greg thought about it for a while. "I don't know, last week, maybe?"

"When was the last time you fired a gun? Yours or any other."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure. I didn't work on a case involving a gun for a few weeks, I think. And I didn't fire my gun in..."

"Reach out your hands for me, please." Russell said in a rough, but also troublesome tone.

Greg did, but had no idea why. He looked at Bobby, but couldn't find any answers in his uneasy looking face. He was all surprised as Russell performed a gunshot residue test on him. "What are you doing that for? I told you I didn't fire a gun in weeks."

The test was negative. Russell sighed relieved although he knew it wasn't time to celebrate yet. "Show me your gun."

Greg got up confused. "Russell, what's going on?" All three of them walked into the locker room. Greg opened his locker but Russell asked him to step back. He looked through the locker but couldn't find the gun. "It's not in here," he said, looking at Bobby. He took notes.

"...It must be here somewhere!" Greg fumbled through the locker. It wasn't there. Finally, it dawned on him. "Someone stole it!"

"You don't say?" Russell replied sarcastic. He took a picture out of Bobby's hands. "Guess how he died."

Greg stared at the picture. It was showing a gunshot victim. "...My... my gun?"

"That's why I performed the gunshot residue test on you."

"You actually thought I could've done that?"

"Greg..." He sighed.

"With my gun from the department? How stupid do you think I am?"

Russell rolled his eyes. "Well you got your gun stolen, so..."

"Wait a minute! It's been in my locker for days! I know I put it there after the last time I carried it."

"So?"

"...So... I don't know, I... Somebody must've taken it out of my locker."

"Greg, you know what you're implying here? The only people who have access to this locker room are the people working here."

Greg sighed. It was ridiculous to even think about the possibility that someone from the lab stole his gun to kill somebody, but he couldn't explain it otherwise.

"Any possibility you lost it or something like that? Ever let it in your car?"

"No, of course not." He shook his head rapidly.

Russell nodded. "You're on desk duty for the next few days."

"What? Why?"

"Because your gun was used in a murder and I'll have to do everything by the book here. I'm not gonna give IA an opportunity to give us hell for this. I'm sure you have a lot of paperwork to do, right?"

He rolled his eyes a bit annoyed. "Yeah..."

"Fine." Russell walked out with Bobby following behind.

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><p>Because Russell was kind of angry with Greg for letting his gun get stolen, he made him do his paperwork in the break room. It wasn't the best place since it was a busy place. Truth was, though, he should have considered himself lucky that he wasn't suspended. The fact that he didn't have any gunshot residue on his hand wasn't prove he didn't do anything, he could've used gloved. It was only because Russell couldn't imagine Greg murdering anybody that he didn't suspend him.<p>

Robin walked up to Greg, not sure if she'd talk to him or not. She knew he was still angry with her, but she also figured he was probably more forgiving than Nick was. "Hey Greg," she said as she stood by the coffee machine, fixing herself a cup.

"Hey..." he said unnerved without looking up to her. The attitude wasn't towards her, he was just annoyed with the situation.

"...Is everything okay?" she asked carefully. She felt very uncomfortable.

Finally, he looked up. "It's been a long day."

She looked at her watch. It was 3a.m., Greg's shift started only three hours ago. "Right..." She gave him a smile which he didn't return. He just looked back down on his work.

"Do you have a minute?"

He sighed as he looked up. "What is it?"

She looked rather discouraged at him. "I... I just want to make it up to you somehow."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "You were having a bad day, I get that. It's alright."

"...Really?" She had a faint smile on his face.

"Sure. I mean, yeah, I was mad at you, but... It's not like I never acted moody at work."

She was close to tears and wasn't even sure why. "Thank you..." She tried to keep her composure. "So, why are you doing your paperwork here?"

"Well, my gun got stolen and somebody used it to murder a guy... Russell's punishing me for letting it get stolen. I'm on desk duty for the next days."

"Stolen...? How?" she asked, pretending not to know anything.

He shrug his shoulders. "I don't get it, either. It's been in my locker, no sign of forcing it open. It's weird."

She laughed a bit. "Sounds like a real mystery... I have to get back to my desk... You know, show Russell I do care about my job..." She got off her seat. "But... I'm glad we made up." She smiled as she walked out. She passed Nick on her way out. They exchanged looks. He was looking at her rather annoyed while she looked simply embarrassed. She didn't feel too comfortable around Nick because he seemed to hold his grudge quite long.

"You forgave her?" Nick asked as he walked in.

"Uh-huh," Greg replied while writing something.

"Why? What did she say to you?"

"Nothing. I just had time to cool down and figured she was probably having a rough day. We all know what that feels like, so..."

"But we don't abandon our job like that just because we're having a bad day."

"Cut her some slack. She was crying her eyes out, I'm sure she had her reasons."

"Like what?" Nick asked as he grabbed something to eat out of the fridge.

"I don't know, but it doesn't really matter. As long as she doesn't do anything like that again, it's fine with me."

"Maybe you're right..." Nick started eating and taking a look at Greg's files. "So your gun was used in a murder?" Greg nodded, grabbing the file out of Nick's hand. "Any idea how it got stolen?"

"Nope. Mandy's checking my locker for finger prints, but I doubt we'll find anything useful that way..." He got off his seat. "I'm checking out the crime scene, maybe I'll..."

"What?"

Greg sighed. "I just need to see it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter, here we go :)**

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><p>Officer Karen Morris, Robin's girlfriend, was nervously standing a few feet away from Greg. She was the officer guarding the crime scene where the body was found. Since she knew Robin was the one stealing Greg's gun, she felt very uncomfortable being here but had no choice.<p>

Greg walked around, looking at the mess his gun has caused. "Do they know who he is already?"

"...Huh?" Morris snapped out of her thoughts. "Uhm... no, not yet."

Greg looked at her. "Are you... alright?" he asked a bit cautious. He wasn't friends with her, only knew her from the job, but knew she was Robin's girlfriend and she obvioulsy wasn't alright.

She nodded surprised. "Sure. Why?"

"Well it's just... Robin acted weird the other day and you look a little sad," he said as he kept looking around the crime scene. When he looked at her, she gave him a look. "Sorry... Me and my big mouth." He smiled embarrassed. "It's none of my business."

"You're right about that."

Greg rolled his eyes a bit, without her seeing it. Her attitude reminded him of Robin a few days ago. He figured it must be some troubles in their relationship. He sighed. "I think our best shot will be if we find out more about the victim..."

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><p>Greg got back from the scene rather frustrated. It wasn't a pleasant sight, with all the dried blood on the floor in this back alley. The body was shot crouching between some garbage bins and left there. Now they had to find out who he was. He didn't carry an ID with him. Of course, Greg wasn't allowed to process any of the evidence. His name was not allowed to show up in the protocol since his gun was used for this gruesome murder, but he was allowed to know about any progress made.<p>

"Hey Mandy, any luck with the fingerprints yet?" he asked as he walked into her lab.

Russell walked after him. "I was gonna ask that." He smiled at Mandy.

"Well, there were several prints on your locker... Greg's locker," she said a bit nervous. She wasn't sure who to talk to. "Mostly his own... your..."

"It's my investigation, Mandy. I just allowed Greg to get updates on the case. Anybody's prints that don't belong there?" Russell asked.

"Well, there were several smudges I couldn't use. Nick's hand print... Robin's fingerprints and... yours."

"I checked his locker last week, a total mess."

Greg rolled his eyes. He liked his locker messy, he could still find everything he needed in there.

"Have any idea how Nick's and Robin's got on there?" Russell looked at Greg.

Greg grinned a bit. "I remember Nick slipping in the locker room two days ago. There was a wet spot and he could barely keep himself from falling. I'm pretty sure he propped himself up on my locker." He smirked, thinking about how funny Nick looked while almost falling.

"And Robin?" he asked a bit annoyed. It was a serious matter and Greg was grinning stupidly, Russell didn't like that.

"I don't know..." He thought about it for a minute. "No, wait, I remember... She spilled coffee over me a few days ago and followed me when I got my spare clothes. She must've touched the locker then."

"And you remember seeing her touch it?"

"No, I went to change and didn't pay much attention to it."

"Do you remember seeing your gun in the locker when you took the clothes out?"

Greg tried hard to remember. "I think so. But I can't tell for sure. It's been six days."

"Oh, I remember when I last saw it," Nick said as he walked in. They turned their heads to look at him. "It was last week, the day before Robin lost it." The bitterness was still noticeable in his voice. "We came back from this crime scene in Henderson. The victim's son was threatening one of the officers with a gun, we all drew ours. And you had yours with you, too."

"Right... Right! I remember putting it in the locker that day," Greg said rather excited.

"Yeah. You said this reminded you that it could never hurt to carry the weapon, even if you never have to use it."

"And yet it gets stolen and he doesn't notice for a whole week," Mandy said rather mocking.

He gave her a look. "Because I thought about taking it with me the next day, but then thought it wasn't necessary. There's enough people with guns at a crime scene, so..."

"Greg!" Russell said loud and unnerved. "This is not the right time to discuss this!"

"Right, sorry..."

"So you remember seeing it seven days ago, and Greg remembers seeing it six days ago. This gives us a possible time frame. Doesn't rule Robin out, though..."

"What?" Greg said, almost laughing. "No way. Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, man, why would she walk out the lab three times when she's supposed to work?" Nick asked sarcastically. After this day, Nick didn't trust her anymore.

"Uhm... Because she wants to kill someone with my gun days later? Doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"I'm just saying... We can't trust her anymore. I say we should check her alibi for the time of the murder."

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><p>While the CSIs were checking for Robin's alibi, Greg had a much more difficult task: Talk to IA about the incident. He met Brass and the IA agent in an interrogation room. This felt awfully familiar as he's been through this the one or the other time before. Most of the times it went rather awful, despite him being innocent.<p>

The agent didn't even stand up and shake his hand, he just started with his interrogation when Greg entered. "I'm Agent Robert Jones, Internal Affairs, with CSI Greg Sanders and Captain James Brass," he said into his recorder.

Greg got asked a lot of questions, but could only tell the agent when he last saw his gun. He couldn't explain how it could get stolen or how it could end up being used in a homicide. It was safe to say that this interrogation didn't go too well.

He went back to the lab rather frustrated. He felt helpless, he couldn't change anything about the fact that his gun was stolen and everybody was giving him hell for it.

"Hey, Greg!" Robin was walking up to him. "How'd it go?"

"Horrible," he replied discouraged.

"So what's gonna happen now? They won't... fire you or anything, right?"

"Well that depends... If I can't prove it wasn't my fault it got stolen... It's policy to keep our guns in our locker, but if they find anything suggesting that wasn't where it got stolen..."

She patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure everything will work out alright..." She had no idea they suspected her to have anything to do with it, but Greg got a little suspicious.

"We'll see, I guess..." he said, giving her a rather suspect look. He would've loved to ask her about it, but he was sure Russell would take care of that.

"...And you're sure you didn't lose it at a crime scene or something?" she asked nervously. She didn't want him to take the fall for her actions, but she also didn't want anyone to know she took it.

He shook his head. "I remember putting it in the locker, Nick even saw me do it."

"Well that's great! You're off the hook with Nick as your witness!"

"That's not how it works. I could get in really big troubles..." He walked away.

She watched him leave with a guilty look. She felt awful, but couldn't come forward.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I hope somebody's still reading this story... :) We're just getting started, it's gonna get quite interesting in the next chapters!**

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><p>"Anything useful on the victim yet?" Russell asked as he walked into the room where Sara was sitting at a computer. It's been three days since the victim was found.<p>

"Well I know he was thrown out of a few Casinos for cheating. At least they claim he was cheating, they never found out how," she explained.

"So you know his name?"

"Kevin Segel. 37, he lived in a pretty bad neighborhood and was unemployed."

"Professional gambler?"

"Most likely. Wouldn't be the first time someone was killed for his gambling. Maybe he owed somebody money." She leaned back. "His fingerprints were in the database, for assault."

"But how did the killer get to Greg's gun?"

"Without breaking the lock? It all doesn't make any sense, does it?" She sighed. "All I know is... Greg didn't do this."

Russell laughed a bit. "I know. His alibi checked out."

Sara looked rather surprised. "You actually think he'd be capable of..."

"Of course not. But I had to check his alibi out, you know that. Luckily, he was working at the time of the murder. With me, actually."

"So he's off the hook?"

"Not exactly. We need to prove that he did everything right. That the gun was stolen from his locker."

"But how? That's impossible."

Nick walked in with a serious look on his face. "We got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Sara asked worried.

"I found this in my latest victim." He held up a bullet in an evidence bag.

"Don't tell me this is..."

"From Greg's gun, yeah."

Russell sighed. "Who's your victim?"

"Jesse Kaye. Businessman from Henderson."

"Ah, that's great!" Sara said sarcastically. "An unemployed gambler from a bad neighborhood and a wealthy businessman from a rich neighborhood. They couldn't be any more different, right?" Sara was feeling quite hopeless.

"Nobody said anything about wealthy, Sara," Nick replied with a smile on his face. "His business was going down the gutter. The bank didn't even want to give him a loan."

"So now we have two poor victims that don't have anything else in common..."

"Where's your optimism?" He smiled again. "His wife told me he somehow managed to get enough money so that they wouldn't lose their house. She asked him where he got it, he didn't say."

"So?" Sara asked a bit annoyed. She didn't appreciate his positive spirit while she was feeling bad.

"So, your victim was a gambler, right? It's possible both owed the same guys money and couldn't pay it back, so..."

"You think that might be the connection?" Russell asked interested.

"And could lead us right to the killer."

"So, who in this lab has enough money that they can give it out to people?" Sara asked sarcastically, still unnerved.

* * *

><p>When Greg got home, he turned off his phones. He didn't want to be annoyed by anyone, he just needed his rest and didn't want any of his friends try and cheer him up. He wanted to dwell in his misery for a moment. He felt awful for letting his gun get stolen without even noticing and he felt horrible that someone used his gun for a murder. Two, actually. And he also felt horrible because he knew this could hurt his career big time. After trying to keep his mind off of this subject by watching some TV, he went to bed and slept for six hours. It wasn't much of a restful sleep, but better than not sleeping at all. He had another four hours until he had to get back to work and decided to try keep his mind off his negative thoughts a bit more. After fixing himself some breakfast he sat down on the couch and started eating. He couldn't enjoy this for long since he heard a knock on the door after he finished his meal. He sighed rather annoyed as he opened the door. He expected Nick, but Russell was standing there.<p>

"What's wrong with your phone?" Russell asked annoyed.

"Nothing, I turned it off."

Russell went in without waiting for Greg to invite him in. "Jesus, Greg. I thought your locker was messy, but your apartment..."

"I told you to give me two days' notice when you want to come over!"

Russell rolled his eyes. "I thought you were joking! I didn't know two days ago I'd come here. Besides, I'm not sure two days would be enough to clear this mess."

"Why are you here, Russell?"

"You need to come over to the lab now."

"Why? ...What happened?" he asked worried.

"There's been a third murder."

"Oh no..." Greg sat down on his couch devastated. This couldn't be good.

"But here's the good news! We got them on video!"

He looked up surprised. "What?"

Russell nodded. "You need to take a look at them. Maybe you recognize their faces."

* * *

><p>The CSIs were anxiously standing behind Greg, waiting for him to confirm he knows the shooter. He was watching the tapes carefully, rewinding it, pausing it, zooming in, everything to help him see the shooter's face. It showed one man shooting at the victim and another one standing right next to the shooter, watching the whole scene. Greg was re-watching the tapes for quite a long time now, without saying anything, and his colleagues got nervous.<p>

"...So?" Nick finally asked. "Do you recognize him?"

He sighed as he turned around. "Not the shooter, but I think I've seen the other guy somewhere."

"Where?" Nick asked rather joyful.

"...I have no idea."

Everybody sighed disappointed.

"Come on, man. Think!" Nick said rather pushy.

"I don't know, Nick!" Greg got off his seat. "I just know I've seen his face somewhere, I just can't put it yet!" He stormed off.

* * *

><p>Greg walked around the lab depressed. He knew he'd seen one of the men on the video before, but he had no clue where. It bugged him and he thought walking around a bit would help his memory. He couldn't go outside since he was already on the clock. Plus, a walk in Vegas at 2a.m. wasn't the greatest thing, anyway. When he passed the DNA lab, he couldn't help but overhear Robin's conversation over the phone.<p>

"No, he didn't recognize him. They don't know who he is, tell him that! But... I can't do that, I'll lose my job! ...what? No, I can't... We can't do that to him! ...No, it's not enough time! Tell them!" When she hung up, she threw the phone out of the door, hitting Greg with it.

"Whoa!" He fetched it. "What was that about?" he asked as he walked in with the phone in his hand.

"Nothing," she replied with a fake smile on her face. She reached out her hand to grab the phone, but Greg didn't give it to her yet.

"Who was that?" he asked warily.

"Karen. We had a fight, is all." She kept her hand reached out and a fake smile on her face.

"Really? And what could make you lose your job?" He took a look at the phone, searching for the caller history.

"What are you doing? Give it back."

"Just answer my question."

"What the hell's wrong with you?" She tried to grab the phone out of his hand, but he took a step back.

He finally found the caller history. It was Karen she was talking to and there were no other suspicious looking calls in the past. He finally handed her the phone. "Sorry... I think I'm losing my mind over this..." He was staring at the display for a few seconds before Robin grabbed the phone.

"I know the feeling..." She said, now with a sincere smile on her face.

"...I gotta go!" He stormed off.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the reviews! Story's about to get interesting! :)**

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><p>Greg ran into Russell's office. He was sitting at his desk, Nick was standing in front of him, discussing something.<p>

"Russell! I think I know where I know this guy from..."

"You do?" Nick said surprised.

"I saw him in a diner once."

Russell looked a bit suspicious. "And why do you remember him?"

"Because he was there with Officer Morris, Robin's girlfriend!"

"Wait. Are you sure?" Nick asked.

Greg nodded. "Robin has a picture of herself and Karen on her cell phone display... It triggered the memory when I saw the picture."

"Damn..." Nick leaned against Russell's desk. "But what does that mean?"

"I guess we'll just have to ask her." Russell picked up his phone to call Brass.

Sara walked in with an evidence box in her hand. "Oh. Wow. Didn't know there was a meeting." She waited for Russell to finish his call. When he put the phone down again, she went on, "I had a case last month... Unsolved. Well, guess whose case it's connected to."

They looked at her surprised. "What do you mean?" Russell asked interested.

"Last month, I had a case with a dead John Doe. He was beaten and stabbed, he bled out. I found DNA under his fingernails, no hit in the database. You found DNA under your latest victim's fingernails, too... And well, they match."

"So body count's up to four."

She nodded. "But get this. I just came from the evidence storage room and pulled the evidence box for the case." She lifted it up to show them. "There's evidence missing."

"How the hell did that happen?" Russell asked shocked. "What's missing?"

"A CD."

"What's on it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't have time to take a closer look at it. The victim was carrying it with him."

"The case is a month old and you still didn't take a look at it?"

"You know how these things work, Russell," she replied rather sad. "When we have more than one case to work on we follow the one with priority. This was about a John Doe nobody seemed to be missing... It looked like a mugging and there were no leads except for the unknown DNA."

Russell nodded. That was how these things worked. Neither one of them liked that, but they couldn't change it. "But where did it go?"

Greg sat down on a chair rubbing his eyes. "I'm so stupid..."

"What's wrong?" Nick asked concerned. It was obvious Greg was feeling horrible.

He was close to tears. "I think Robin took it."

"Now... Let's not jump the gun... Why would you say that?"

"Because I saw her in the evidence storage room... Twice."

"I checked the log when I saw that the CD was missing, she didn't sign in," Sara said rather warily.

He sighed. "She claimed she wanted to be alone, that's why she was in there... But she fumbled through some boxes from cases just a few weeks old... She said she just pretended to look for something when she heard me coming. I believed her..."

Sara put her arm on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Russell had a rather disappointed look on his face.

"Because I didn't want to cause her anymore trouble. It was the day she was acting all weird, she was crying and... I believed her. I feel so stupid." Greg buried his face in his hands as he sighed.

"Did she wear gloves?" Russell asked after a few moments of silence.

"...What?"

"When she was fumbling through the boxes, did she wear gloves?"

"I'm not sure... I don't think so..."

"Sara, check the box for prints. Maybe we're lucky. Brass will take officer Morris to the station, I'll talk to her... And Nick, keep an eye on Robin, alright?" Russell got off his seat. "And Greg... Go home. Take the rest of the day off, I'll call you when we got some news."

Greg thought about arguing about it, but he knew it would be the best to just do as he was told. He could use some rest.

* * *

><p>Robin ran up to Greg in the parking lot. "Hey, where are you going?"<p>

"Home... I got the day off," He had an insecure smile on his face. He wasn't sure how to approach her, now that he was pretty sure she had something to do with these murders.

"What's going on, Greg? Everybody's acting weird..." she laughed nervously.

"I-I don't know. It's an intense case, you know..."

"Is that why you're acting weird?"

He didn't answer.

"Is that why you're acting weird towards me or... Is there another reason?"

"I'm not acting weird towards you, Robin. I'm just exhausted... I need to get home, you know?" He smiled.

"What was that meeting about?"

"If you want to get updated on the case ask Russell. It's not my case." He turned around to get into his car.

* * *

><p>Robin went back into the lab nervoulsy. She was quite sure they knew more than she wanted them to, but what was she supposed to do now?<p>

"Robin, we need to talk," Russell and Brass walked up to her.

"...What's going on?"

"We're trying to get a hold on Karen Morris but she's not picking up her phone. Do you know where she is?" Brass asked.

"Oh well, you now, she sometimes doesn't hear it ring. Maybe she's out shopping or something, I don't know," she tried to explain with a nervous smile.

"Well, if you hear from her tell her to call me immediately. It's important."

"Sure." She smiled and walked away into the A/V lab. She knew she had to be very careful, but she didn't have a choice but to do what Karen asked her to.

* * *

><p>"Hey Archie, what are you doing?" Robin asked with a fake smile.<p>

He sighed exhausted. "Watching some videos... over and over again..."

"About Greg's gun?"

"No. I already processed them as good as I could. The video's been put away."

Robin nodded with a rather relieved smile on her face. That made it easier for her. She patted Archie on the shoulder before she walked out.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, there was still no word from Karen Morris. Brass was getting nervous, they really needed to talk to her. But there was also enough reason to talk to Robin.<p>

"I pulled some fingerprints from the evidence box, both inside and outside, and put it through the database. Guess whose prints I found..." Sara walked into Russells office. "We need to talk to Robin... now."

Russell nodded. "I'll go get her." He walked over to the DNA lab. It was empty. "Hodges!" he yelled.

"Yeah?" Hodges walked in. "What do you need?"

"Where's Robin?"

"Haven't seen her for a while." Hodges shrugged.

"Where did she go?" Russell had a rather angry tone in his voice.

"I don't know. She was talking on her phone a lot and kept walking out of the lab. But I'm not her babysitter, I..."

Before he could finish, Russell walked out, yelling for Nick. He quickly walked out of the evidence room. "Yeah."

"Nick, where the hell's Robin?"

"I don't know, I kept an eye on here, but... I had also work to do, so... Why?"

"Her fingerprints were found on and inside the evidence box with the missing evidence..." He pulled his cell phone out and tried calling her. The call was blocked. "She's not answering... But I'm sure she knows I'm calling her. Where the hell is she?"

* * *

><p>Robin was on her way to Karen's, but stopped at Greg's first. It took him a few minutes to open the door, he was taking a nap on the couch. "Robin. What are you doing here?"<p>

"I need you to help me. Come one," she said with a desperate look on her face.

"What are you talking about? Does Russell know you're here?"

"I'll explain everything in the car. Now come on, we don't have much time!"

Greg laughed a bit sarcastically. "I'm not coming with you, I'll call Russell and tell him you're here." When he turned around to get back inside, she grabbed his arm.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice. Come on now." She showed him a gun she had in her purse.


	7. Chapter 7

I'm so excited that you guys love this story! :) That's why you get this special treat: this is, i'd say, the most important chapter for this story. I didn't plan to upload it until next week, but I wanted to give you a little more Greg on Sunday hehe ;) I hope this chapter will excite you! Let me know what you think about it! And now enjoy!

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><p>"I can't believe this!" Greg was sitting in the back seat of Robin's car. His hands were tied behind his back. "Since when do you own a gun?"<p>

"Two days," she replied rather dry while driving over to Karen's.

"Why?"

"Like you don't already know," she replied sarcastically. "I was the one who took your gun. I gave it to these men so that they wouldn't kill Karen and me... I didn't have a choice."

"Who are they? And what do they want from you two?"

"Karen owns them money... I didn't know about it until last week, when they walked into my home, threatening us with knifes..." She got teary-eyed.

"That's where you had to go all the time? You gave them the CD and my gun?"

"...You know about the CD?"

He nodded. "Sara reviewed the case and noticed it was gone. Do you know what's on it?"

"No. And I don't want to know. I just want this to end..."

"How? And what do I have to do with all of this? Why don't you just tell Brass about this? He can help!"

" I can't involve him. Just relax, we're there soon."

* * *

><p>When they arrived, she untied Greg's hands. She didn't want to draw any attention to her and walking around with a man with tied hands sure would do that. Plus, she didn't think he'd fight back. She kept a distance to make sure she'd have enough time to draw her gun though. And indeed, Greg didn't think about trying to escape. He didn't see any opportunity to do so. But before they walked into the apartment building Karen was living at, he stopped.<p>

"What is it? Keep going," Robin said.

"No."

"You're kidding, right? Keep walking!" she raised her voice.

"And if I don't? You're really ready to shoot me?"

"You shouldn't try me. Karen's up there and will be dead in half an hour if I don't arrive on time, I won't let that happen."

"Then go ahead, but don't drag me into this! I don't even know what's expecting me up there!" he replied aggressively and fearful. He was scared and pretty sure walking up there would be his death sentence.

Robin had tears in her eyes. "You'll be fine, I promise. I won't let them hurt you or Karen." She had a determined look on her face, but how could Greg trust her?

"Then tell me what you need me for!"

"I can't. My plan will work better when you don't know..."

"Yeah right..." he said disbelieving, giving her a look she almost couldn't stand seeing.

She made sure no one was around. They were alone, it was 4a.m., after all. She put the gun in her hand and walked up closer to Greg, gently touching his cheek. "Everything will be alright, I promise. Now please, walk in."

* * *

><p>They were on the 17th floor, where Karen's apartment was. Robin knocked on the door, Karen opened. She was quickly dragged away from the door. Another man grabbed Greg's shoulder and dragged him inside, pushing him inside the living room and pinning him against the wall to pat him down. Robin walked in. "He doesn't have a gun on him. You have his."<p>

"Excellent," the man replied, patting him down, anyway. "He's clean," he said to his three colleagues. They all had knives in their hands. A fifth man was sitting on the bed in the bedroom, watching what was going on in the living room while smoking a cigarette. The bedroom was dark and you could only see his silhouette and the smoke from the cigarette. The embers from the cigarette was giving light into the room.

Greg looked at Robin, searching for any hints as to what was going to happen. She didn't notice him, she was busy talking to Karen. Not only was he scared, he felt left alone by her right now. All hope about her keeping her promise of not letting him get hurt disappeared in this moment.

"You got the tape?" one of the men asked, breaking Robin and Karen off.

Robin nodded and got it out of her bag, along with some copies Archie had made.

"Great."

The man from the bedroom slowly walked across the hallway into the living room. He had a gun in one hand and the cigarette in the other. "So this is him?"

"Yeah... he's the one you got the gun from..." Robin blinked at Greg, but couldn't keep her eyes on him.

The man walked up to Greg. It was the man from the tapes. He was the one standing next to the shooter in the video. 6'2'' tall, large frame, grayish hair, dark blue eyes, beard stubbles, in his early 50ies. Greg recognized him but didn't say a word. He had no idea what these guys were up to, anyway. The man slowly put his hand on Greg's cheek. He tried hard to suppress his urge to push him away, he was carrying a gun, after all. Greg's gun. He looked at Robin, still hoping to get some answers out of her. She looked away. She couldn't look him in the eyes, she was too ashamed she used him like that.

"He looks even better than I thought he would!" the man said rather joyful. When he leaned in trying to kiss him, Greg couldn't resist his urge anymore and pushed him away.

"What are you doing?" Greg asked scared. He put his hands defensively in front of his body.

A tear was running down Robin's face. "Just do what he wants... Don't fight it or he'll hurt you even more..."

"You should listen to your friend..." the man said with a devilish grin on his face. He tried again to kiss Greg, but again was shoved back.

"Get away from me!" Greg yelled fearful. He had his back against the wall. He tried to think of ways to flee, but there were none.

The man turned around to Robin. "You didn't tell me he'd be so resistant... I like that." He chuckled. He turned to Greg again. "You can fight back all you want..." He leaned in again to kiss Greg and, once more, was shoved back. He laughed and gave two of his partners in crime a hand sign. They walked up to Greg.

"...W-What...?" Before he could even form the words in his head he wanted to speak out loud, one of them punched him in the face. They grabbed his arms and pinned him against the living room wall. "No! ...Get off of me!" he yelled, struggling to get out of their grab. This only resulted in him receiving more punches.

"Now, now, don't overkill it. He's still supposed to look good," the man with the gun in the hand said laughing. "You can either be a good boy and do what I want you to do or these two will have to keep us company."

"Get away from me!" Greg was still trying to fight them off. It would be better for him to stop struggling, but panic mode had already set in and he couldn't think straight. He just wanted to get out of this situation. "...Please!"

The man burned the inside of Greg's wrist with the cigarette while one of his accomplices muffled Greg's painful screams with a hand. "You're mine now," the man said laughing.

Robin watched Greg being tortured while crying. She kept whispering, "I'm sorry, so sorry..." to herself. She could almost not stand watching it, but she couldn't keep her eyes off, either.

The man pistol-whipped Greg. He was still conscious, but trying hard to stay that way. He couldn't fight back anymore and the man finally got the kiss he wanted so bad. While being kissed, Greg looked over to Robin, as if he wanted to say 'That was your plan? You're offering me to him so that you get out of his book?' and she knew exactly that that's what he wanted to say. She felt horrible.

When the man had finished his kiss, he spit on the floor. "You idiots, I told you not to hit him anywhere near his mouth. He tastes like blood." He wiped his mouth with his hand. "Well, this has to do, I guess... Drag him into the bedroom!"

When the two men grabbed Greg and walked him towards the bedroom, he started fighting back again. He even hit one of them. "No! Don't!" he yelled desperately.

"You two, help them," the armed man said to his other two accomplices. They walked over and helped carry Greg into the bedroom. He followed.

Karen and Robin just stood there in the corridor, a few feet away from the bedroom door, watching them drag Greg inside.

The men pushed Greg down on the bed. He kept struggling with them, fighting back as good as he could, but he had no chance against four men. Especially not in the state he was in right now, after receiving several hits and punches, some even to the head. "Robin!" he yelled, "Don't let them do this! Please!" he begged while still doing his best to fight them off.

The man with the gun stood at the end of the bed, watching Greg's struggle. He laughed. "I like him, he's fierce." He put his necktie off and walked closer to the bed.

"Please, Robin! Help me... Don't..." Greg wailed.

The man sat on top of Greg, forcefully grabbing his face. "You better shut up and be quiet. You don't want anyone of these guys helping you with that, you got that?" he said angrily and pressed his lips against Greg's while he put the gun at his neck. Tears seemed to be streaming endlessly down on Greg's face. He was sobbing convulsively and uncontrollably. He was shaking like crazy and almost hyperventilated. He was close to a panic attack.

"Get off of him!" Robin finally yelled.

The man laughed. "Actually I was planning to get off **on** him." When he heard a gun cock, he turned around with a confused look.

"I won't say it again," she said with a determined look on her face. "Put your gun away and get away from him."

"You didn't pat HER down?" the man tried to whisper to his partners, but couldn't suppress his anger. He smirked. "Silly woman. You better put that down." He pressed his gun at Greg's neck.

"The second you pull that trigger I'll do the same. Put your gun away... NOW!" she yelled.

The four accomplices stood there, not knowing what to do. They only had knives, but no guns. And right now, they tried to keep Greg from moving. He was fighting for his life and therefor hard to subdue.

The gunman thought about it for a moment. He put his gun at Greg's mouth. "You don't want your friend's brain spattered all over your good linens, do you?" He grinned.

"Greg, stay calm... It's gonna be okay..." Robin said soothingly.

"Have you even fired a gun before?" the man asked laughing.

"I have," Karen replied with a confident grin on her face, putting her hand over Robin's, touching the gun's trigger. "It's your decision. You can either walk out of here alive and never hassle us again or you can eat a bullet! All of you!" she said threatening.

They all heard a knock on the door. "Officer Morris?" Brass said from outside. "We need to talk!" He kept knocking.

The tension inside was thick enough to cut it with a knife. Walking away and never hassling Karen and Robin again was not an option anymore.

"Dammit!" Robin said desperately. "Drop the gun, there's no way out for you now..."

"Yeah well..." the man laughed. "I could still get out with a bang, taking him with me!"

"I won't let you do that..." Robin said nervously as a tear was running down her cheek. She knew she didn't have the skills to aim without risking to miss him – or worse – hit Greg. Karen had the skills, though.

"Open up!" When Brass knocked again, and everybody looked at the door distracted, Karen grabbed the gun out of Robin's hand and shot the gunman in the shoulder. He released a scream and dropped his gun on the bed next to Greg's face, falling down on him. Blood splattered all over Greg's face. The accomplices all ran for cover as the door was kicked in by an officer and Brass stormed the apartment. "Drop the gun! Drop it!" Brass yelled, pointing his gun at Karen, who quickly put the gun down and raised her hands.

While Brass and the officers were busy in the corridor, Greg pushed the injured man off of him and grabbed the gun. His hand was shaking. The man was unconscious. He pointed the gun at him but refused to use it. He released a deep sigh and walked into the bathroom. He locked the door behind him. Some officers noticed this, but didn't know it was Greg. They just saw a man with a gun walk into the bathroom. They pointed their guns towards the bathroom, ready to storm it. Brass quickly followed with his gun drawn. "Ready? One..."

"Don't! It's Greg... Greg's in there!" Robin said before Brass could order his men to storm the bathroom.

"Greg's in there?" He was confused. "What the hell's going on?"


	8. Chapter 8

I'm SO glad you guys like this story! I wasn't sure how this abusive chapter would be received, I'm glad you liked it! Who doesn't want his favorite CSI in danger every once in a while? :)

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><p>Greg was staring into the mirror, breathing heavily. He felt sick to his stomach. He thought he'd had to throw up, it was the fear making him feel sick. He started to wash the blood off his face and shaking hands. He tried to ignore Brass knocking on the door. He was almost in trance, just acting, not thinking. He knew it wasn't smart to wash himself up. He was washing away evidence. When he slowly started to think again, he noticed that that's exactly what he was doing right now, so he stopped. As he tried to calm himself down, he took deep breaths and looked into the mirror. He almost didn't recognize himself, with his bloodshot eyes, bruises, blood and tears all over his face. He sighed deeply.<p>

"Greg? It's Brass. Please open up, I want to make sure you're alright." Brass said from the other side of the door. He tried to sound soothing but couldn't hide his concern. "We'll have to break the door open if you don't come out and I'd rather have you open it for me."

"Where's the gun?" Robin said from the outside.

"What gun?"

"He had a gun! Where is it?"

"Sir, we saw him walk into the bathroom, I think he had a gun," one of the officers explained.

"Greg!" Brass knocked on the door heavily. They feared he might hurt himself with the gun.

Slowly, Greg unlocked the door. But he didn't come out or open it. He sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the bathtub. He sat there, staring into space. He'd stopped crying. He'd stopped shaking. He just stared and took heavy breaths. The gun was lying in the sink.

Brass carefully opened the door. He made small steps into the bathroom. He couldn't hide the shock in his face when he saw Greg. He looked like he's been gone through absolute hell. Before he walked in, Brass considered Greg not to be a victim in this, but a suspect. Why would he be in Karen's apartment with a bunch of criminals when he was a victim, anyway? Not knowing all the background information needed to understand this, it all didn't seem to make any sense. "Greg... There are paramedics waiting outside for you. Can they come in?"

"I'd rather be alone," Greg replied dry without any emotions in his voice.

"There's blood all over you, you're bruised... It's important you get checked out. You get that, right?" Brass said gently.

"Most of it isn't my blood. Just a minute," he said while staring into space. Most of it actually was his blood, only a few blood spatter from when that guy was shot were not his. Brass knew this, it was obvious.

Brass walked up closer. He saw the gun in the sink and sighed relieved. "I'm gonna take it outside, alright?" He grabbed the gun. "Is there anything I can do for you? You need anything?"

"Just... leave... Please."

* * *

><p>Brass had called Russell to try and talk to Greg. He came here as quick as possible, trying to take care of him. He walked into the bathroom and crouched down next to Greg. "Why didn't you wash it all off?"<p>

Greg looked at him. "...What?"

"The blood. Why did you stop washing it off?"

"I... I realized I was washing away the evidence."

Russell chuckled. "Am I that good of a boss or that bad? In a situation like that, you're thinking about the evidence?"

Greg looked at him for a few seconds, then laughed. He then buried his head into his arms he had propped on his knees. His laugh quickly turned into crying and sobbing. Russell gently patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright. You're safe now."

After talking to him for almost ten minutes, Russell was finally able to convince Greg to leave the bathroom and get checked out by the paramedics. He refused to go to the hospital, though.

* * *

><p>The accomplices were being escorted out of the apartment. They were handcuffed and put into the patrol cars. The man with the gun was taken to the hospital. He lost a lot of blood, but wasn't dead. Robin was sitting at the kitchen table, talking to Brass. "It wasn't supposed to go down like that..." Karen was sitting next to her, rubbing her back comforting, gently squeezing her hand.<p>

Greg was lying on the couch. Russell was standing next to him, asking him some questions. After Russell and Brass knew everything there was to know at the moment, they set out to leave. Karen was handcuffed and Brass escorted her out.

Greg sat up and watched her walk out. "Why is she handcuffed?" he asked as Robin walked up to him.

She sighed. "That's why I didn't want to involve Brass or anyone else from the department in the first place... The whole thing wasn't quite legal... You know, the lending money part... She has a gambling problem and..." Robin shook her head to keep herself from crying.

Greg noticed the tears filling up her eyes. He felt kind of bad for her. "So this was your plan? Threaten them with a gun and hope they'd just leave?"

"Didn't work out as I thought it would, but it did work, huh?" She gave him a hopeful smile.

"Why me? Why did you bring me here? You knew what he wanted, right?"

"I'm really sorry, but I saw no other way... I needed a distraction... And when he wanted me to bring him someone to... I thought you were perfect for this."

Greg looked at her a bit confused.

She sat down on the armrest of the couch. "I'm sorry, I... Sara once told me about you and Julian... and some incident in a video store and how much it all affected you and..."

"Wait. What are you trying to say? You took advantage of my fears?"

"You need to understand... I was sure you would try to fight them off. I knew you wouldn't just... let him do anything. I needed that. I needed them all to be distracted with you..." her voice cracked when she said that. "I'm SO, so sorry..."

"So, let me get this straight. You knew I would try fighting him off, that's why you picked me? You also knew they would beat the living hell out of me when I actually do fight back? ...So you're basically saying you risked my life for your stupid, not at all thought-through plan?"

"I needed to do something! I couldn't let them kill Karen... Or keep hassling us!"

"And you think endangering all of us was the right way to do that? You knew who they were, why didn't you tell Brass before they blackmailed you again?"

"I already told you... What she did wasn't legal and..."  
>"I don't care, Robin! You thought dragging me into this was the better choice, right? What did you think, that I wouldn't go to Brass with this afterwards?"<p>

"No."

He gave her a look. "Look at me! How could I keep this from anyone, even if I wanted?"

"You're my friend, we would've figured it out," she replied rather shocked. She figured it was perfectly normal expecting a friend to support her with this.

He shook his head rapidly. "I'm not so sure about that." He slowly got up. He was still feeling a bit dizzy. "Russell, can you drive me home?" he asked, walking into the bedroom where Brass and Russell were talking.

"Sure." He patted Brass on the shoulder as he walked past him and walked Greg out.


	9. Chapter 9

Four days after the incident, Greg was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was tired after only sleeping for a few hours and waking up every now and then. Yet, he wasn't able to get up. He kept running the events in his head over and over again. It was all so vivid, he felt the way he felt back then, only angrier. For four days, he has been alone in his apartment. He didn't take anybodies calls, just texted them back, saying he was busy right now and would get back to them. Only he didn't. He didn't plan to call anyone back. He just wanted to be alone.

He should've known better than that. His colleagues didn't care to grant his wish, they didn't want him to be alone. "Greg, open up, man!" Nick said from outside, knocking on the door.

Great. Now he had to get up. "Just a minute..."

Greg opened the door.

"Hey Greggo, how're you doing?" Nick asked as he walked in.

Sara followed behind. "I hope you're hungry!" She smiled at him as she held up a bag with food.

"Guys, what... What are you doing here?" He tried to hide his disappointment. He appreciated the gesture, but really wasn't up for company yet.

"Russell got stuck at the lab, he needs some paperwork to take care of, but he wants us to say hi." Sara carried the food into the kitchen and started putting it on plates.

"I, uh..." Greg wanted to tell them he wasn't hungry and ask them to leave, but he didn't want to hurt their feelings.

"How are you holding up, man?" Nick asked sympathetically. He tried to put his hand on Greg's shoulder supportive, but Greg flinched.

"I'm alright." He gave him a fake smile. An obviously fake one.

Nick raised an eyebrow and kept his voice down, so that Sara wouldn't hear him in the kitchen. "Really? You want to play that game again? Why can't you just admit you're not feeling well?"

Greg sighed. "I don't want you to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, you said that the last time you... We worry about you, no matter what you tell us, alright? So be honest."

He sat down on the couch. "What do you want me to say, Nick? It's only been four days, what do you think I feel like?"

Nick smiled at him. "Russell wanted me to hand you this." It was a business card. "She specializes on post traumatic stress disorder."

Greg looked a bit embarrassed when he took the card. "...Thanks," was all he could say.

"Food's ready!" Sara said joyful as she walked in with the plates in her hand, placing them on the coffee table. "Your bruises seem to be healing good," she said as she sat down next to him, gently rubbing his back. Both Nick and Sara haven't seen Greg for the last four days. They didn't see him right after the incident. He just went home that night and didn't want any company. They respected that.

They all chatted a bit and started to eat. "So... Any word from... Robin yet?" Greg asked rather carefully. "...Or Karen?"

Nick cleared his throat. "Karen's still in jail, it doesn't look too good for her. They think she helped that one guy... Get rid of some evidence so that he won't be charged for... some of his crimes. They're not sure, though, there's no evidence at the moment to support that theory and she's not talking."

"Which guy? The one who...?"

Nick nodded.

"What crimes?"

Nick sighed.

"Come on, Nick. You want me to be honest, then be honest to me, too."

"...They're not sure yet, Greg. It's all speculation at the moment because she worked on some of the cases." Nick tried to calm him down, he noticed that his breathing had changed.

Greg got nervous. He tried to think about something different, but couldn't help it.

Sara gently placed her hand on his knee. "They almost had him for rape and murder but the DNA evidence was compromised, they couldn't use it against him... They had nothing else but circumstantial evidence."

Greg nodded. "And they think Karen tampered with the DNA evidence?"

"It's too early to tell, but... yeah."

"And Robin knew about this?" he asked, trying to hide the shocked look on his face.

"She's suspended for the next two weeks. She'll be working the day shift after that."

Greg leaned back. He calmed down a bit. "So she's getting a 'get out of jail free' card?"

"Well... The DA made his decision. They won't prosecute. She stole the evidence trying to save her girlfriend's life and helped catch the guys. We were able to recollect the evidence so... She won't be charged with anything concerning the evidence. But if you changed your mind and wanted her to be prosecuted for what she did to you, I want you to know you'll have our full support. Anyone of us will support you, no matter what you decide."

Nick couldn't help but notice how close Sara was sitting to Greg, how often she touched him since they got here. And the one time he wanted to touch Greg, he flinched.

Greg shook his head. "I don't want her to go to prison."

"Are you sure? I mean, what she did, that's..." Nick said.

"No. I want to get past that. I don't need to go through a trial, especially when the outcome would be that a friend got imprisoned..."

"You still see that woman as your friend?" Nick was surprised.

"...Colleague... Well, I don't know. I liked her before that and I think I understand why she did it but..."

"But she must be absolutely nuts to be able to do what she did!" Nick exclaimed. He had to keep himself from yelling. He had at least as much anger towards Robin as Greg did. Probably more. He apologized for his outburst when he noticed that he startled Greg. "It's just... What was she thinking? She'd rather endanger three people's lives before she turns her girlfriend in?"

"She could face a long time in prison and lose her job if she was convicted... And Robin probably thought her plan was safe," Sara chimed in. "I'm not trying to say we should forgive her, but I can understand why she did it. If it was Grissom... Or one of you guys..."

"Yeah but we'd never do something like what Karen did!" Nick raised his voice again.

"But it's not Robin's fault for falling for the wrong person. It happened to all of us before."

Greg just nodded, looking a bit absent-minded. "But what do you do when your mind's telling you something different than your heart does? I know she's sorry and that she didn't want me to get hurt, but I feel nothing but hate for her right now."

"It's only been a few days. Try processing what happened to you and then think about her. Your recovery is more important right now." Sara put her hand on Greg's and gently squeezed it.

* * *

><p>Over two weeks have passed and Greg was back to work. Russell didn't know yet, though. Nobody did. "Hey boss," he said with a shy smile on his face as he walked into Russell's office.<p>

"Greg," he said as he got off his seat. "What are you doing here?" He smiled at him. "Excuse my manners. How are you?"

"Fine. I'm fine. I'm coming back to work."

"Really?" Russell used a few seconds to think about what to say. "Well, we can always use a hand. But... Sit down, please." He sat down on his chair again.

Greg sat down, too. "Listen, can we just pretend this all never happened? I'm feeling great."

"You don't look like someone who's feeling great." Russell pointed at Greg's face. It was covered with bruises, mostly on the lower half of the face. They were mostly yellow and green as they started to fade, but they were still clearly visible.

"And yet I am." He gave him a smile, trying to convince him.

"Before you get back to work... We need to talk about Robin."

Greg's smile looked a bit uncomfortable and forced now. "I already know they won't prosecute. Nick and Sara told me. And she'll still work at the lab, right?"

"Well, it's my decision. I wanted to make a family meeting and talk this through with all of you. If anyone feels uncomfortable working with her again, she could be transferred to days."

"But she'd still work in the lab?"

"You don't want that?" Russell asked, trying to sound as understanding as possible. He was a bit torn apart, too. He knew Robin was in a difficult situation, but it was hard to trust her after this.

He shook his head. "That's not my decision to make."

"Yeah but I want your opinion. Have you talked to her yet?"

"No..."

"Maybe you should do that and then get back to me."

Greg shook his head again. "No, Russell... I don't want to get her fired, but..."

"She was suspended for two weeks. She's transferred to day shift for as long as you want, alright?"

Greg was surprised. Grissom would've never given him the choice to make a decision like that and he wasn't quite sure he liked that.

"But you need to talk to her someday. You two need to figure out where you stand."

"...I-I'm not sure I..."

"When you're ready for it," Russell said with a smile.

"Thanks..." Greg got off his seat with a rather uncomfortable smile.

"Just one more thing, Greg?" Russell said before he could leave the room. He continued as Greg turned around. "You will have to testify against these guys in court..."

Greg didn't even think about this before. When this guy in the video rental store forced himself on him, he didn't tell anyone for a long time. It wasn't in any protocol and he didn't have to talk about it in court. "W...What?" He almost lost control of his shaking legs, he could barely stand. He sat down again. "No... I... No, I can't. I won't." He shook his head violently.

"You have to. You're the most valuable witness. The defense won't accept Morris' and Robin's testimony that easily. They have enough reason to doubt them. But they don't have any reason to doubt you. You need to tell everything you know."

He started shaking. It was a dreadful thought, having to go through that again. He was going through all the emotions he felt back then right now, by just thinking about having to talk about it in a court room. He could even feel the wound from the cigarette burning. He tried hard fighting back those tears forcing their way down his cheeks. "Please, I... I can't do this." But it wasn't the only reason he didn't want to do it.

"Greg..." Russell said with a soft voice. "We have enough evidence to pin them down, but you know how it works. The jury needs something else than just plain science to believe what they hear. You need to do this. Did you contact the psychiatrist I recommended yet?"

Greg nodded. "I talked to her three days ago."

"Great. And did she say you were ready to get back to work?"

"No, but I know I am. I'm feeling fine," he said, without realizing how little his face impression or voice matched his words.

"You want to come back to work, alright. I'm fine with that as long as you do your job right. But don't think you can fool anybody by saying you feel good. I'm there for you when you need it, but I can't be if you keep this act up."

The rather harsh words surprised Greg. Everybody else was treating him with kid gloves but Russell spoke the hard truth. He just nodded, not knowing what to say.

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><p><strong>Hello from the bottom for a change :)<strong>

**What do you guys think? Could you forgive Robin? Should Greg?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for your reviews and opinions! :) And of course for the sweet compliments. It means a lot to me, you guys know that!**

**I really hope you guys like my portrayal of Russell. It's never easy to write for a character I don't know too much about yet, but he's such a great, likable character, he makes it quite easy. Hope you're content! :)**

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><p>Greg was sitting in the DNA lab, staring at some evidence he was supposed to process. He wasn't allowed to go out in the field yet. Plus, with Robin working day shift they needed the help at the lab. A lab tech on day shift had just quit and Robin got his spot, so the graveyard shift was shorthanded.<p>

"Hey, you're back," Nick said in a good mood. He didn't think Greg was ready to come back, but learned over the years that it was better not to doubt him with decisions like that.

Greg smiled at him. "You got something for me?"

"Yeah, actually I do." Nick fumbled through the evidence bag he was carrying around and handed Greg some DNA samples. "So, back in the lab again, huh?"

Greg nodded as he grabbed the samples. "Better than just sitting around at home." The smile on his face faded. "...Nick, can I tell you something?"

"Sure. Anything." Nick grabbed a chair and sat down next to Greg.

"Russell said I'll have to testify in court. I'm the DA's only useful witness, he says."

Nick nodded. "Well that's no surprise, is it? You don't feel comfortable with that?"

Greg hastily shook his head. "It's not just that. I know it can take weeks or even months until I have to do this." He had a sad look on his face.

"Then what is it?"

It took him a few moments, but then he was able to say what was on his mind. "I'm not sure there's much I can tell them. I don't remember it all."

"What do you mean?"

"...I don't remember the guy's face."

Nick laughed a bit disbelieving. "What do you mean, you don't remember his face?"

"I mean that I can't tell you what he looks like. The color of his eyes, his nose, hair... I don't remember it."

Nick now had a serious and concerned look on his face. "You should've gone to the hospital, get checked out properly. Maybe it's because of the hits to the head you received. I could drive you over right now."

Greg shook his head again. "I don't think that's it. The psychiatrist Russell recommended, she... she thinks I have post traumatic stress disorder. It's common to forget certain things about the incident..."

"Is there anything else you don't remember?"

"Brass said I took the gun... my gun... from the guy. I don't remember that either."

"And the rest?"

He shrug his shoulder. "I think that's it."

"Well then... it's not a problem. When they ask you about it you just say how it is. Maybe it'll help the case if the jury knows how much it affects you." Nick tried to pat him on the shoulder, but Greg got off his seat.

"Maybe..." He grabbed the DNA sample and started processing it.

* * *

><p>The end of Greg's shift arrived in half an hour. Right now it looked like he would be able to leave the lab on time, but it occasionally happened that even the lab techs had to do overtime. He was in the DNA lab, finishing some of Nick's samples off when Russell walked in. "Hey, you're done with your work yet?" he asked as he entered.<p>

"Almost. Why, you got something for me?"

"No." Russell shook his head. "But you can leave when you're done."

Greg took a look at his watch. "It's another 35 minutes until my shift's over."

"I know." Russell smirked a bit. "But you can take your paperwork at home or do it tomorrow if you want."

"What's going on?" Greg raised an eyebrow. "Don't pamper me just because of what happened."

"I'm not..." He chuckled a bit. "It's just, Robin's day shift starts when your shift ends. I figured you would be uncomfortable seeing her today. You don't need to confront her at your first day back, right?"

Greg had a surprised look on his face. He never thought about that. He knew she was back at work, but he never thought that they could run into each other when they're not on the same shift. But then he remembered, when he was pulling a double he was often getting his DNA evidence processed by the day shift tech. "Oh right... I guess... I'll see her someday, so..."

"But this day doesn't have to be today. You can go home now and avoid that. Think about it, get used to that thought and do it when you're ready." He patted Greg on the back. "Alright? See you tomorrow." He walked out.

Nick walked in right after. He watched them from outside the whole time. "Hey. You okay?"

"Sure. Your results are ready, I just need to print it," he replied hastily. He printed it and handed it over.

"Why the hurry?" Nick asked confused.

"No hurry, I just... I gotta get home," he replied with a fake smile and left.


	11. Chapter 11

**Big Yaaaaay for the reviews :)**

**Ready for the secret Greg is about to tell Nick in this chapter?**

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><p>It was the next day when Nick was sitting in the break room and looking out the door. He watched Greg and officer Spencer interact. Officer Spencer had heard about what happened to Greg and called him last week. He saw him today for the first time since it happened. It was very touchy-feely with lots of hugging and crying on Spencer's part. Greg tried to avoid most hugs by telling him it hurt him, but he couldn't avoid them all. When they said goodbye, Spencer hugged him one more time and patted him on the shoulder.<p>

Greg walked into the break room while rolling his eyes but with a smile on his face. "This guy can get very emotional."

"Yeah I've seen that," Nick replied rather moody while reading a newspaper.

Greg walked over to the water boiler to fix himself a cup of tea. "Are you alright?" he asked Nick as he turned his head towards him.

"Sure, why shouldn't I?" Again, Nick sounded quite moody, almost sulky.

"What's wrong?" Greg asked as he sat down opposite Nick.

"I don't wanna talk about it..." he mumbled as he put the newspaper in front of his face.

"What, is this about Spencer again?" Greg asked amused. "When will you let this go?"

Nick raised an eyebrow and looked up from the newspaper. "That's not it. At least not all of it."

Greg frowned as he took a sip from his cup. "Spill it already."

Nick sighed as he put the newspaper down. He thought about it for a while. "...Nothing."

"Come on, you can tell me."

Again, he needed a moment to think about it. Then finally, he decided to just say what was on his mind. "That was quite a long hug there, huh? Many hugs, actually."

Greg rolled his eyes as he laughed. "He just wanted to show his support. You're reading way too much into his actions."

"And yesterday... When DB patted you on the back."

"What do you mean?" Greg was confused.

"I mean Sara, okay. I get it. She's a woman, I guess it's different with her, but..." Nick stopped himself. "Ah, forget it. I shouldn't have mentioned it." He got off his seat and walked over to the coffee machine, fixing himself a cup.

"Nick, what are you talking about?" Greg asked concerned.

It took him all the time it took to fix himself a cup until he went on. "How come you won't let me touch you?"

At the exact same moment, Hodges walked in, hearing what Nick just asked. "Whoa. What did I get into here?"

Greg just stared at Nick, not paying any attention to the lab tech.

He walked over to Hodges and gently pushed him out while putting the coffee cup in his hand. "...Get lost, Hodges. Give us some privacy here, will ya?" He closed the door.

Greg looked over to the door, but avoided looking directly at Nick. "Nick, I... I don't know what to say..."

"I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have said something, but... I noticed that you kept your distance again. I understood that up until the point where I noticed that I'm the only one. You don't mind being physically close to anyone else, just me." He got back to his seat.

"...Who says I mind being physically close to you? I don't..."

"Yeah right. What about when Sara and I visited you? You flinched to avoid me touching you."

"I did not! Okay, maybe I got surprised by it and that's why..." Greg tried to talk himself out of it.

"And what about yesterday in the lab? You jumped off your seat when I tried to touch you."

"I didn't even notice you wanted to! I needed to get up. It was just bad timing!"

Nick rolled his eyes. "And how about this? You usually sit down next to me, not opposite me."

"Come on now, don't be ridiculous..."

"Really? It's all in my mind?"

"Yep." Greg tried to sound convincing. He took another sip from his cup.

"So... You're doing alright today?"

"I'm trying to," he replied with a kind smile on his face.

"You know what? You look like you could use a hug."

"What?" Greg giggled nervously.

Nick got off his seat again and walked over to Greg. He looked down on him with open arms. "Come on, get up."

"Don't be silly." Greg giggled again. He noticed Nick didn't move and kept looking at him. "...I'm good, I don't need a hug."

"You're sure? Well,** I **could use one. So?"

Greg's stupid smile turned into an annoyed look. Nick just wouldn't drop it. "Alright... Sure, why not." He got off his seat. He turned around to face Nick, but it was evident he was nervous and feeling highly uncomfortable. But he wanted to go through with this.

When Greg got closer to him, Nick took a step back. "Really, now? You'd rather hug me though you don't want to before you tell me what the hell's going on? I can't believe you!"

"What are you yelling at me for?" Greg replied annoyed. "You want a damn hug, then come on!"

"Not a pity hug!" Nick replied hurt. "I understood it last time, Greg. You didn't want any guy come near you! But now it's just me!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh, at least have the balls to admit it!"

"...It's nothing personal, just... just calm down." When he said that, Greg remembered that one rule you should always follow when you argue with someone. Never EVER tell them to calm down.

"Oh screw you!" Nick yelled. "Sure it is!"

"I'm sorry, alright? But stop yelling..." He was quite sensitive to yelling and aggressiveness at the moment.

"Just tell me what's wrong with me!" he kept yelling.

"Nick..." Greg tried to stay calm. "Nothing's wrong with you. Just shut up and let me explain!"

Nick rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I... It's just so frustrating. I want to help you as much as I can and... and now I just realize I'm not helping at all. I was selfish, I... apologize. I should... I should probably just give you some space..." He headed out.

"No, wait! You are helping!"

"I am?" He turned around with his hand on the door knob.

"Well... In this moment not so much, but... Yesterday for example! I did tell you something I didn't tell anyone else beside my psychiatrist. That should count for something, right?"

Nick put his hand off the door knob and walked back to his chair and sat down. He propped his elbows on the table as he buried his face in his hands. "I just feel so bad, so... guilty."

"Why?" Greg said humorous, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I was supposed to keep an eye on Robin. I shouldn't have let her walk out of the lab."

Greg shook his head. "If you didn't Karen would probably be dead. At least that's what Robin told me."

"But **you** would still be alright."

Greg gave Nick a genuine smile. "I think Robin just thought the opposite..." He realized that what Robin did was understandable. Most people would sacrifice the ones they don't care about as much to save the ones they love. "And besides that... Nothing really happened, right? It was just an awful experience in my life I will learn to deal with. I should be thankful I'm fine."

"Just because it could've been worse doesn't mean it wasn't bad."

Greg shrug. "I'll get over it. That's the important part." A silent moment followed. "We should get to work."

They both got up and walked towards the door. "Wait a minute..." Nick said. "You never explained why you..."

Greg interrupted him. "I have a bunch of samples waiting for me, I have to go. We'll talk about it later, alright?" He quickly walked away.

* * *

><p>Nick was pissed. Greg was able to distract him enough so that he would forget about his question. He avoided him for the rest of the night but wanted to make sure to catch him when he would take another break. When working in the lab, Greg was a creature of habit. He'd usually take his breaks at a certain rhythm. It was time for another break, Nick was sure, so he lurked around the DNA lab, waiting for his chance. Hodges was in the lab talking to Greg right now. Only a matter of minutes, he was certain, and Greg would come out and take his break. He waited and waited. They were talking for almost ten minutes. Then finally, they seemed to part ways. But before that, they high five'd and Hodges patted Greg on the shoulder and chest when he walked away. Greg was still laughing as he walked out of the lab when Nick approached him.<p>

"Okay, what was THAT about?" again, Nick sounded quite aggressive.

"...What?" Greg asked puzzled.

"The pat on the chest... and a high five? You don't even really like the guy! What the hell, man? Are you doing this on purpose?" Greg just gave Nick a look and walked past him, towards the break room. Nick followed. "Hey, don't leave me standing here. Answer me!"

"What do you want, Nick? You're angry that I'm having a little fun? You'd rather have me moping around, crying secretly and feeling depressed all day?"

"Of course not, I..."

"You're really trying to make me feel guilty that I'm enjoying myself rather than think about what happened all the time?"

"No, I..."

"Shame on you! Just because you're jealous doesn't give you the right to give me a hard time!" He entered the break room.

Nick stopped before entering the break room to feel bad for a minute. Then he realized... "...Wait! You're doing it again!" He hastily followed Greg. "Okay, I gotta hand it to you. This one was good. I really did feel bad for a moment. But enough with the mind games. Just tell me what's going on."

Greg sighed. "Close the door?"

Nick did and sat down opposite Greg. "I think I have a right to know..."

"I wasn't trying to protect myself, I was trying to protect you. But since you won't give up until I tell you... Don't be angry afterwards because I told you."

"I won't. I just want to know."

"I couldn't talk with the psychiatrist about it yet so... I'm not sure why I am that way, but... The reason why I don't mind Sara or Russell or Hodges... or even Spencer come close to me is..." He sighed. It was hard for him to say this. "It's because they don't remind me of that guy..."

Nick looked surprised. He had a lot of theories for this, but none of them covered what Greg just told him. "But you said you didn't remember his face."

"I don't. But... I have dreams about it and... They don't always end like it really did." Greg sighed. "Sometimes he has your... He's you. In some dreams, it's you." When Nick didn't say anything, he went on. "I don't know why, okay? It's not your fault... Or mine. It's just how it is."

"...But... why?" Nick asked shocked.

"I don't know... My mind's stupid, I guess..." Greg laughed insecure.

"Wow, I... I don't know what to say," Nick was still shocked. "I... I'm speechless."

"Don't make a big deal out of it, alright? It'll pass, I'm sure." He smiled at Nick.

"That's horrible, Greg," Nick said bluntly. "Downright horrible."

"Come on, it's not that bad. I know it wasn't you, after all," he joked.

Nick rolled his eyes a bit. "It's not very funny..."

"I know..." He looked down. Nick did the same. They just sat there, both staring down. Then, Greg decided to get up. He walked up to Nick. "It'll be alright." He gave him a rather forceful smile as he patted him on the shoulder. Nick gave him an appreciative look and smiled back.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for the reviews! I love hearing your opinions! :)**

**Greg dropped quite a big bomb on Nick. Wonder how he takes it? Find out ;)**

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><p>End of shift. Russell told Greg he could head out half an hour early every day until he felt comfortable seeing Robin. That moment hasn't come yet, but Greg decided it should. The talk he had with Nick opened his eyes, he didn't recover from this as fast as he wanted to, as he thought he should. It was time to change this, make progress on his own. He didn't need a psychiatrist for this, he was sure. He managed to get out of bed everyday on his own although he felt like staying there all day. He managed to honestly talk about his feelings with Nick on his own. He would pass this challenge on his own, too, he was determined, so he stuck around the lab until his shift really ended. He was getting more nervous every minute, but knew he had to do this now.<p>

"Greg, you're still here?" Sara walked into the DNA lab. "Robin's going to be here every minute now. I thought you wanted to..."

"I did. But I think it's time to face her."

Sara nodded. "You want to be alone with her or... you want me to stick around a little longer?"

"No, it's fine. I can do this."

"I know you can." She smiled as she walked out.

A few minutes later, Robin showed up. She saw Greg before she walked in and stopped. He didn't know that she feared this moment even more than he did. She turned around and walked away.

"No, Robin! Wait!" he called after her, walking outside the lab and up to her.

She stopped. "I'm sorry. I'll just wait in the break room..."

"Actually... I thought maybe we could talk?"

* * *

><p>They walked into the break room and sat down at the table. Both felt awkward with the other one in the room.<p>

"So how are you holding up?" Robin asked to break the ice.

"I'm good..." He thought about it for a moment. "Actually, no, I'm not. It's tough. I have trouble sleeping, I have nightmares and think about it quite a lot..."

Robin looked surprised. She was caught off-guard. She nodded as she looked down to her feet.

"A few days ago, I was walking down the strip... Lots of people around me, daytime... And this guy walks right at me. I winced. I thought he was walking up to me, but he was just walking in my direction and passed me by. My heart stopped right before I realized he wasn't gonna hurt me..." He cleared his voice. "I'm not telling you all of this because I want your pity or want you to feel bad, I just think I have the right to let you know what you did to me." He didn't keep her eyes off her.

"Of course!" She nodded. She still couldn't look him in the eyes.

Silent moment. "So..." Greg finally said. "How's Karen holding up?"

Again, Robin looked surprised. She didn't expect him to even pretend to care how she was. "I think she'll be alright... It's not easy, but... Her trial starts tomorrow..."

He nodded. "I hope she has a good lawyer..."

"So is that it?" Robin said after another silent moment. "Some small talk, and now? When are you gonna yell at me?"

"...Yell at you?"

"Well, yeah... What I did was horrible, I know that. You hate me. You're angry. Angry with me, angry at these guys... Maybe even angry at yourself. Aren't you? Let it out! You'll feel better."

He shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous."

"No, I'm serious. Don't tell me you're not angry."

He thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't know, I..."

"Greg, I made you go into Karen's apartment at gunpoint when I knew what was expecting you. I let this pervert force himself on you..." Her eyes filled with tears as she looked right at him. "I told you to just let it happen because I knew it would scare you even more than the situation itself did! I'm responsible for the burn scar on your wrist that will remind you of this incident for the rest of your life... How can you not hate me?" She raised her voice, she almost yelled. "I mean, I assured you you wouldn't get hurt when I knew exactly what they'd do to you!"

Greg didn't expect her to say all these things. Things he thought, too. He didn't expect her to yell, either. "You hate yourself for this, don't you?"

She sniffed as she turned around. She didn't want him to see her tears. "How could anyone NOT hate me for that?"

"Okay, I guess I kind of do. But I don't want to. It only makes things worse... I feel dull from all the hate I have inside me. Like I don't feel anything anymore... and then a wave of feelings overcomes me and I can't deal with it." He sighed. "It's like I'm broken on the inside..."

She couldn't keep the tears from falling down her cheeks to save her life. She knew Greg felt bad, but the way he described it broke her heart. "Can I do anything to help you feel better?"

"No." He gave her a smile. She wasn't sure what to think of it. He looked almost dead behind his eyes. It was an awkward smile.

* * *

><p>"You can't be serious! She should be lucky she's not fired or in jail... I say keep her on day shift." Nick was furious when he heard Greg suggest to get Robin back on the graveyard shift.<p>

Greg finally talked to Robin. He didn't do it for her. He didn't do it to accuse her of anything or make her feel worse. He did it because he didn't want it to be too awkward everytime they saw each other at the lab. It felt liberating that he had the courage to do this.

Russell asked his team for a family meeting at the start of a new shift. He wanted to talk about Robin, now that Greg had a talk with her. He didn't know what they talked about, just that they did and that Greg was ready for this meeting. Nick, Sara, Greg and Russell were in his office, talking it through. Nick was walking up and down the room. Greg was sitting there with his back turned at Nick but opposite Russell, who was sitting in his chair. Sara was leaning against a wall, watching Nick walk around.

"She's a great DNA tech and we need her." Greg tapped his thumb on the armrest nervously.

"Yeah, great! Until the next time she decides to leave her work behind to do business with some criminals." Nick rolled his eyes.

"She wanted to save her girlfriend's life," Sara replied calmly.

Russell just sat there and observed.

"Don't project your guilt on her, Nick. It's not fair." Greg didn't look at Nick when he said that.

Nick stopped walking. "MY guilt? How about HER guilt? It's all her fault! If she didn't try to protect a criminal this all wouldn't have happened in the first place."

"...To save her girlfriend!" Greg said rather loudly. Everybody looked at him. He sighed deeply. "Sorry. But let's not forget that. She didn't do this because she was greedy or evil. She did it because she was blackmailed and because she thought it was the only way to save Karen's life. She's sorry. She knows she made a mistake. She's a good person and deserves a second chance..."

Nick couldn't help but notice the heavy breaths Greg took when he said that. "Do you really think that? Or do you want to think that to make yourself feel better?"

"Nick!" Sara exclaimed. He was going too far.

"Come on now, Russell, how can he have a vote in this?"

"...What?" Greg jumped off his seat. "If anybody,** I **have a right to give my opinion in this."

"Maybe, but not now. I don't think you're thinking clear. You're guided by your emotions, you don't think rationally."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "You have no idea how wrong you are. If I was guided by my emotions I wouldn't let her anywhere near this lab! I'm **trying** to think rationally and forget about my emotions here!"

"See?" Nick looked at Russell. "He's too unstable to have a say in this."

"How dare you?" Greg was getting rather aggressive.

"Alright, I think that's enough," Russell said, finally intervening. "I understand it's an emotional subject for the both of you, but..."

"He wants to give her a second chance and yet he doesn't want her near the lab. He's not thinking straight, he shouldn't decide!" Nick stood next to Greg, talking to Russell. "He doesn't even know what he wants!"

Greg's breathing got heavier with every word Nick said. "I don't need to stay here and listen to this..."

"So you're out? You abstain from voting? Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Nick said almost amused.

"Nick, I think that's enough..." Sara said soothing, trying to calm them down.

Greg was almost out the door when he turned around and walked back. "What the hell's your problem? I'm trying to get on with my life, why can't you..."

Nick interrupted him. "You can't just go on with your life like nothing happened! She broke our trust, she almost got you killed. You're a coward for letting her back just like that!" He went on with a lot of accusations and insults, including the fact that Greg was scared to come physically close to him, until Greg snapped. He punched Nick.

Russell and Sara watched the scene shocked. Nick stumbled back. Greg released a bit of a painful moan as he waggled his hand.

"Oh my god!" Sara exclaimed as she ran over to Nick, looking at Greg rather appalled.

Russell grabbed Greg's arm and pushed him out of the office. He walked him into the break room.


	13. Chapter 13

I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter!

Here's the next one, hope you like it, too :)

* * *

><p>Greg released a deep sigh as he propped his hands on the break room's table. He waited for Russell to yell at him, only he didn't. He just stood there and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I just... I didn't mean to..." Greg said regretful, trying to find the right words to apologize appropriately.<p>

"You feel better now?"

He laughed humorlessly. "I feel awful. ...I hope he's not hurt."

Russell chuckled. "Don't worry 'bout it. He's a though guy, I'm sure he's fine. But where did this rage come from?"

"He provoked me! He shouldn't have pushed me like that..."

"Well maybe he's right. Maybe you're not ready to decide whether or not you can work with Robin again."

"No! Why doesn't anyone get it? She needs to come back and work here so that I can get used to having her around again!" He yelled quite aggressively.

"Why do you want that so bad? You could get her out of your life and never look back again."

"She was my friend... It's confusing, I'm not ready to get her out of my life for good. I want to give her a second chance... I think I need to."

Russell nodded as Nick walked up. Sara was walking next to him, looking at Greg.

Greg looked at Nick rather shameful. "H-How's your face?"

"Guys, could you give us a minute?" Russell and Sara walked out and gave them some privacy. "How's your hand?" Nick's face didn't even develop a bruise. The area where Greg's fist hit him was reddened, but that was as bad as it would get.

"Hurts..." Greg replied with an embarrassed smile on his face. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't know how that could happen, I didn't mean to..."

"Are you still angry?"

"Only at myself. I can't believe I hit you. I never hit anyone before."

"I could feel that." Nick laughed. "But you feel better now, don't you?"

"...Why aren't you angry? Why isn't Russell yelling at me for my behavior?"

Nick leaned against the wall. "You're a little less frustrated, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Greg shrugged. "But the guilt's growing."

"It shouldn't. I pushed you. I deserved it. Besides, I'm fine."

"...No you didn't."

Nick gave him a look.

"Well, maybe a little. What you said was unfair..."

"It wasn't just unfair. It was awful. You had every right to attack me. It was almost bad enough to make one think I did it to make you angry, right?"

Greg nodded. Then he thought about it for a moment. "...You did this on purpose?"

He grinned. "Worked like a charm."

"...You're an idiot. How is this supposed to help me?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Because you need to work on your aggression. You needed to release some of the aggression and you did, right?"

Greg knew Nick was right. He did feel a bit better, like some of the baggage he was carrying around got lifted off of him. There was so much anger building up in him, it was nice to release some of it. "Well then... Thank you but... Don't ever do that again, alright?"

Nick laughed as he nodded.

"But the things you said... You believe it, right?"

The smile on Nick's face faded. "Well, let's just say what you told me, that Novak looks like me in your dreams... It didn't hurt the cause."

"I really didn't mean to hurt you when I said that. I just can't help it. You of all people... I don't get it."

"It's okay, Greg. Just tell me what I can do to help you. I don't want you to be scared of me."

"I'm not! It's more of a... discomfort than fear, you know?" Greg tried to explain.

Nick sighed. That didn't make it sound all that better. But he knew Greg only meant well, he didn't mean to hurt Nick. He did, anyway, but it wasn't his fault. "We'll get through this."

Greg gave Nick a sheepish smile as he walked over to him and hugged him. It wasn't a very long or tight hug, but Nick was surprised by it. When he let go of Nick, he still had a smile on his face, but his eyes showed the discomfort. "See? We're getting there."

Nick nodded. He wanted to tell Greg that this didn't help, either. Seeing the discomfort in his friend's eyes after they hugged broke his heart, but he appreciated that Greg wanted him to feel better about this. "Let's get back into Russell's office, tell him to put Robin back on graveyard shift, okay?"

"What?" Greg asked surprised. "I thought you were against it?"

"Nah. I talked to Robin after you two talked. She was the one giving me the idea of provoking you until you snapped."

"You did...? Why, what did she say?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's get back to voting."

* * *

><p>Greg was surprised Nick talked to Robin. He even wanted her to come back to work. He didn't completely forgive her for what she did, but he was willing to try. Greg was rather impressed by Nick. He wasn't one to forgive easily and he was sure it wasn't easy for him to take these first steps. It inspired Greg to take another step forward into that direction. His goal was to forgive Robin, but there wasn't much she could do to help him reach his goal. It was mostly up to him now, so he did something he didn't think he would do two weeks ago.<p>

He walked into a courtroom and sat down. He sat three rows behind Robin and looked at Karen, who was sitting at the defensive's side. It was her hearing. Today would be decided whether or not her case would go to trial. The DA had mostly circumstantial evidence to go to trial with. They wanted to prove that Karen tampered with DNA evidence in a rape and murder case. All they had, though, was the information that Karen was working on that case and that the man who she owed money to was most likely the murderer, but they couldn't prove it.

Near the end of the trial, the judge looked at her files. "CSI Greg Sanders wants to say something?" she asked, looking through the rows.

He got off his seat and nodded. Robin looked surprised as he walked up to the witness stand and sat down.

"Your honor, the defense wasn't told there'd be another witness..." Karen's lawyer said outraged.

"After what he's been through, I think Mr. Sanders has a right to talk here," the DA argued.

The judge allowed Greg to say what was on his mind. Most of the time when he was talking he looked over to Robin, he hardly ever looked at Karen. "I don't know if officer Morris tampered with the DNA evidence. I just know her doing business with that man almost cost me my life... It was a horrible situation and I'm pretty sure he was going to kill me but..." He looked over to Karen. "He didn't because Morris stopped him. Maybe you should keep that in mind when you make your decision."

As Greg left the stand, Robin's eyes were fixated on him as she started crying. She was overwhelmed. Greg was the last person she expected to talk in Karen's favor. The DA and defense lawyer went on to argue about whether or not Greg's statement was supposed to be considered when the judge made her decision.

* * *

><p>After the hearing, Greg sat on a chair in Russell's office. He kept the lights off, only the cracked open door allowed some light in. He sat in there for over half an hour when Russell finally walked in. He turned on the light and startled when he saw Greg. "Oh! Greg, what are you doing here, scaring me like that?"<p>

"Sorry," he said, sounding rather sad.

Russell walked towards his chair to take a look at Greg. "Your shift ended over two hours ago, what are you still doing here?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you'd gone home already."

"Did you wait for me? You could've called." He sat down in his chair and leaned back.

"It could've waited..." He leaned forward. "I just did something I think was right but yet I feel bad about it."

"What did you do?"

"I went to Karen's hearing... and asked the judge to be lenient with her because she saved my life."

Russell nodded. "Do you really think that's what she did?"

"I don't know... I mean, she didn't stop Robin from taking me there, but they had the gun... I'm sure they thought they were in control the whole time... They didn't want me to get hurt."

"Then why do you feel bad?"

"She probably tampered with the evidence. I mean, just because she did one good thing in a line of many bad things, does that excuse any of the bad things she did?"

"What do you think?"

Again, he shrugged. "I just know I can't stand the thought of her going to prison for years. But then I think about the victim in the case she tampered the evidence. His family deserves to know what happened and... Who knows how many people this guy hurt because they couldn't pin him down for this murder?"

"It's not your decision, Greg. You shouldn't waste too much thought. You said what was on your mind but this won't keep Karen out of prison if they have enough evidence, anyway. It could only lower her sentence if she was convicted."

Greg sighed. "I'm so sick of this."

"Greg... This probably isn't the best time to tell you, but... They set a date for Neil Novak's trial."

Greg heard that name several times,the name of the man who almost raped and killed him, but he would never use it himself. He only referred to him as 'the guy'. This name just couldn't come over his lips. "...When?"

"Next week."

"What? Why so soon?"

"Since they won't prosecute Robin, they need some positive things to give to the press."

Greg rubbed his eyes. "Great... All they ever think about is how it makes the department look like."

"Nobody here likes it, but they have to do what's necessary. You'll be fine. You'll be able to do that, alright?"

Greg sighed. "I don't think I have a choice."


	14. Chapter 14

**The big day has arrived for Greg! The trial. And Novak's got a little surprise for him :)**

* * *

><p>The day of the trial had arrived. Greg was on edge for the last three days. It would be the first time he'd face Neil Novak. His psychiatrist tried to prepare him for this moment as much as she could. He told himself he was confident enough to do this, but things didn't go as well as expected. He walked out of the court room when Nick walked up to him. "Hey! How'd it go?"<p>

"Where **were** you? I really could've needed someone in there..." Greg walked past Nick and towards the court house's exit.

"I'm sorry, I got stuck at a crime scene. I couldn't leave sooner. Weren't Russell and Sara with you?"

"They were busy, too..." He sighed as he kept walking. "The defense's lawyer tried to make this all my fault. It's ridiculous."

"Your fault?" Nick laughed unbelieving. "How could this possibly be your fault?"

"Since Robin and I are friends, they questioned whether I went with her at my own will or because I was forced. They said because I didn't file a suit against her I probably wanted to go in that apartment and knew what was up..." He shook his head.

"What?" Nick was outraged. He walked fast, trying to keep up with Greg. "That's ludicrous! Even if you did, that doesn't excuse what they did to you!"

"They're trying to make me out to be the bad guy while this guy just sits there and grins at me..." Greg sounded as if he was about to cry. Facing Neil Novak was straining him enough, but having to deal with the defense lawyer made things worse.

"But they won't get through with this. The jury's not stupid and the judge isn't, either. Novak is a murderer and a rapist and they have enough evidence to know you didn't want any of this to happen!" Greg didn't respond, he just walked out of the court house. Nick followed. "Hey. Hey!" Nick grabbed Greg's arm to stop him from walking. He turned to Nick with a puzzled look. "He'll be convicted. He's going down for murder. He'll be locked away forever, okay? Don't worry 'bout it."

* * *

><p>As the days went by, the trial went on mostly without Greg. He didn't feel the need to sit around in the courtroom while Novak stared at him. But not a day would pass without him thinking about it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been stressed out like this and it was probably the first time ever he had fallen asleep during work. He was back in the field as a CSI and was processing some clothes in the evidence room when he decided to close his eyes for just a minute. 25 minutes later, Brass walked in. "Greg? Russell told me you'd..." he stopped talking when he saw Greg's head buried in his arms he propped on the light table. He approached Greg, trying to talk in a soothing voice. "Greg. Wake up."<p>

He looked a bit disoriented for a moment when he woke up.

"I'm not sure Russell appreciates you guys sleeping at work," Brass said jokingly.

Greg gave him a tired smile. "Probably not. What are you doing here?"

"I came here looking for you, actually... How are you doing? Are you alright?"

Greg heard these questions way too often in the last few days. He knew everybody meant well, but it got annoying. "I'm good, thanks..."

Brass nodded. "There's something I want to tell you. It's your decision in the end, but he wants you to know this..."

"Who?" Greg rubbed his eyes. The half hour of sleep he just got was not enough.

"Neil Novak." He sighed. "He wants to see you."

"...Wh-what?" Greg stuttered. "...Why would he want to see me?"

"I don't know, maybe he wants to apologize or mock you... Who knows. Point is, he can ask for this as much as he wants, you can still tell him to go to hell with his wish."

If Greg wasn't sitting already, he'd sit down now. "I don't think I can do this."

"You don't have to, Greg, you..."

Greg didn't even listen, he just went on talking. "It was already hard enough facing him in court... I can't talk to him..."

"Greg," Brass said harsh as he grabbed Greg's shoulder, getting him to concentrate again. "No one's expecting you to do this. As far as I'm concerned, this guy deserves to be thrown in a cell and never have any contact to the outside world ever again. And whatever the people try to tell you, your friends, your psychiatrist, anyone... You don't need to talk to him in order to get better. It's not necessary, alright? You got that?"

* * *

><p>Greg leaned against the DNA lab's door frame. "Hey."<p>

Robin startled a bit. "Hi, Greg. I'm not done with your evidence yet. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay..." He walked in. "I thought maybe we could talk."

She put the things she was working on away. "Sure..."

He sat down on a chair a few inches away from her. "I'm trying really hard to forgive you, you know."

She nodded. "You know how sorry I am, right?"

"Of course. It doesn't change anything for me, though. You betrayed me that day. No matter what your reasons, it's very hard to try and see past that. It's hard, if not impossible, to trust you."

"Greg, I..."

He shook his head. "Did you know he wants to see me?"

"Who? ...Novak? Why?"

Greg shrug his shoulder. "He just does."

"I don't think it's a good idea to..." Robin stopped herself. "Sorry. It's not my place to tell you what to do."

"You wouldn't do it?"

She rapidly shook her head. "He has no right to ask for this. ...Neither did I."

Greg looked a bit thoughtful before turning around.

"Greg, wait." Robin stopped him before he walked out. "Thank you for talking in Karen's favor. We both appreciate it."

He sighed. "Just between you and me... Did she do it? Did she tamper with the evidence?"

Robin nodded, trying to hold back the tears. She knew Greg could use this information against Karen and send her to jail for a very long time, but she thought she owed him being completely honest.

"How can you support her, do these things for her... when you know what she did?"

"When you love someone you support him, no matter what. I thought about leaving her, but Novak was already threatening us when I found out. I couldn't just let them hurt her and I couldn't go to Brass, either. She would've never forgiven me."

Greg ran his fingers through his hair. "You think she would've left you if you'd gone to Brass with this?"

"I'm sure of it."

He shook his head. "She doesn't deserve you."

* * *

><p>Two days later, Greg received a call from the DA. He tried to push Greg into talking to Neil Novak. Novak said he'd make a full confession and tell them about murders they don't know about yet, both murders he committed and murders people he knows committed, if Greg was willing to talk to him. Some of the bodies Novak allegedly knew about were still buried somewhere, and he claimed to know where they were.<p>

"It's 23 bodies, he says..." Greg sat down on the table in the break room next to Sara. He just got off the phone.

"That's a lot of people..."

"Yeah, and 17 of them are buried somewhere... The rest are cold cases where the bodies were found but the murderers weren't..."

"23 families looking for answers..." Sara took a sip from her cup of coffee.

"Thank you," he said sarcastically.

"...What?"

"The DA's putting enough pressure on me already, I don't need you to try and make me feel bad, too."

"Sorry. I was just talking to myself."

Brass walked into the room and went straight to the coffee machine to fix himself a cup. "I don't believe a single word that piece of crap's saying."

Both CSIs looked up to him.

"Come on. All of a sudden there are over 20 dead people and he knows who murdered them. Now that he wants something. It's not the first time a criminal tried this." He sounded quite annoyed.

"Wouldn't be the first time the criminal wasn't lying, either," Sara replied. She received annoyed looks both by Greg and Brass. "...Just saying."

"Just don't let him blackmail you with information that might be completely useless and made up. Don't do anything you don't wanna do." He walked out with his coffee cup.

Greg sighed. "Brass might be right..."

Sara nodded sympathetically. She didn't think he was, she wanted to tell Greg to just meet with Novak. But she knew he didn't want to hear that. He wanted her to tell him that it was okay he didn't want to talk to him, but she couldn't tell him that. "What would your psychiatrist say to this?"

Greg shrug. "She said I should face him someday, but I'm not sure I want that."

"Want what?" Nick asked as he walked in. He got a cup of yoghurt out of the fridge and sat down. "That guy wants to talk to me..."

"Really."

"What do you think I should do?"

"What I think? Well, I don't think you should meet up with anyone whose name you can't even say out loud."

Greg and Sara looked surprised at Nick.

"...What?"

His bluntness surprised them both. "Nick, I don't think it's fair to..." Sara tried to defend Greg.

"No, stop it with the fairness. He's a grown man, I think he can hear the truth. Greg, we all noticed you never once said Novak's name. You couldn't deal facing him in court, how will you feel sitting two feet away from him?"

Greg raised an eyebrow. "He claims he has valuable information for 23 unsolved murder cases and he's willing to give that information up. This might not just be about me."

"And what if he's lying? What if he's trying to manipulate you?"

"What if he's telling the truth? If he's lying, well, joke's on me. But if he really has some information... It could help a lot of people deal with what happened to their loved ones. And we could arrest murderers that thought they got away with it!"

Nick sighed. "I still don't think it's a good idea, man."

"Greg... Aren't you the least bit interested to find out why he wants to see you?" Sara asked, trying to make this decision at least a bit easier for him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks for sticking around for so long, guys! I think the following chapters will be worth it ;) Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Greg couldn't stop thinking about what Sara said. Why did Novak want to see him? It was a good question. A question he asked himself a lot. He was pretty sure he didn't want to apologize. He's seen the look on his face in the court room. Mock him? Maybe. But he'd be able to deal with that, he was sure. So what exactly was it he was afraid of? Why didn't he want to face him? He had no answers to these questions and figured this might mean he was just scared. And that wasn't a rational reason. Novak could have important information, after all. It took him four days, but it was decided. He had to face him.<p>

"I don't know how often I said this to you in the last few years but... I think you're making a mistake." Nick walked next to Greg towards the visiting room in the prison Novak was in.

"Maybe it's a mistake I have to make. I can't stop thinking about this. It's not like I have it easy falling asleep these days, but this made it worse. I need to know why he wants to see me. And I need to do my best to help solve these unsolved cases." Greg was quite determined this was the right thing to do. He had lots of doubts but tried to block them out.

"How can you be sure he actually knows anything?" Nick had a hard time trying to hide his frustration. He just wanted to protect Greg, but he didn't make it easy.

"He gave the DA some of the names. I looked into it. Some of these people were murdered and they never found out who did it. Others are missing... I think it's legit. He knows something."

Nick sighed. "Alright..." He patted Greg on the back. "Good luck, man."

* * *

><p>Greg sat down as he waited in the visiting room. It was a rather big room with white walls and nothing but a table and two chairs inside. He was tapping his thumb nervously on the table as he waited. The few minutes felt like a lifetime. The solid door opened. When they finally brought Neil Novak in, Greg's nervousness seemed to fade away. He was calm now. Novak walked in with a big grin on his face. "I didn't believe it when they said you'd come."<p>

The two prison guards sat Novak down. His hands and feet were cuffed. One of the guards walked out, the other one placed himself next to the door, with his back against a wall, right behind Greg, keeping an eye on Novak.

"Are you gonna tell me what you know about the murders you talked about?" Greg asked with a cold voice.

"Now now, not so fast, my dear. We'll get there, but that's not what I wanted to talk with **you **about."

"Then say what you have to say and let's get this over with." Greg didn't show any emotions in his face. He didn't feel scared at the moment. He felt nothing but disgust for that man.

Novak smirked. "Straight to the point. I like that. Well, first things first. Show me your wrist."

Greg slowly raised his eyebrows. He knew Novak wanted to see the burn scar he caused but he didn't want him to see it. "You said you wanted to talk."

Novak laughed. "23 dead bodies... And I killed five of them. Your guys never found them. They're out there somewhere."

"Where?"

"That's not the point. I'll tell the DA about them. I wanted to tell you a story about one of them. Drew. A cute guy. You remind me of him," he said almost nostalgic.

Greg leaned back as he sighed. He knew this would be a long story.

* * *

><p>"Hey Nick," Brass said as he walked up to him.<p>

Nick was sitting in front of the visiting room, impatiently waiting for Greg. There was no window to look inside the room, neither could he hear what was going on. "Hey."

"So he's in there with Novak? He really wants to talk to him?" Brass sat down next to Nick.

He nodded. "He really believes that Novak has information. And I guess he thinks he needs to do this for himself, too. To prove himself something."

Brass nodded. "I tried to talk him out of it, too, but once he makes up his mind..."

"Yeah. No way to change his mind. Stubborn fool."

"Well maybe he's right, maybe it'll help him. Who knows."

* * *

><p>"Drew was a few years younger than you... Didn't have a good job like you. He owed me a lot of money... So when he couldn't pay me back, I made him an offer. He refused. Just like you." Novak grinned. "I gave him another chance a few weeks later. He still refused. What about you?"<p>

Greg looked a bit confused and surprised. Did Novak really ask him what he think he just did? "...If that's why you wanted to see me..."

"Wait," Novak said before Greg could get off his seat. "The story's not over yet."

Greg kept seated as he rolled his eyes and sighed. He started to question why he was still there, but hoped Novak would give the DA valuable information. This charade should at least not be completely pointless.

"So, he refused again. Just like you did right now. Now, I'm not the type of person who takes a 'no' for an answer. The day after, his family and friends are looking for him. They have no idea where he is... To this day, almost three years later, they still don't have a clue." Novak released a loud, intimidating laugh.

"Are you done?" Greg asked unimpressed. The thought of this imprisoned man uttering these threats against him was kind of amusing. And weird at the same time. "Will you tell the DA what you know now?"

"Sure. But I want to make sure you understand the story."

"Can I go now?" Greg turned his head to the door for a second. Novak used this opportunity to put his hand on Greg's.

"Did you understand what I was trying to say?" Novak asked with determination in his voice. "Last chance to change your mind."

Greg looked down on his hands. He thought Novak touching him would bother him more than it did. "This will be the last time you touched me," he said with more confidence than he had in weeks. He got off his seat and walked towards the door.

"Just one more thing," Novak said.

Greg turned around to look at him.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you but... You're wrong," Novak said amused as he stood there face to face with Greg. His hands and feet were uncuffed.

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><p>Nick looked nervously at his watch as he was tapping his feet up and down. Greg's been in there for a long time and he started to worry. What would he talk with him for such a long time? He thought about checking on him, but he wasn't sure if Greg would appreciate that so he decided to wait just a little longer.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry for the chapter 15 spam! I usually get an e-mail when I've uploaded a chapter and didn't get one this time, so I thought I needed to upload again. My bad, sorry :) Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you're excited for it!

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><p>The prison guard had a tight grip around Greg's mouth. He made sure Greg had no chance to call for help. The guard's other hand was placing Greg's arms behind his back – forcefully, it hurt him. He tried to fight the guard off while Novak was walking up to him with a big grin on his face. "I told you I don't take a 'no' for an answer. Last chance. You can do what I expect you to do or you can have an ending like the cute guy I told you about. Only difference will be that your friends and family will know what happened."<p>

Greg stopped struggling.

Novak laughed. "That's my boy!" When he got close to him, Greg suddenly started kicking. He kicked Novak in the kneecap and the stomach.

"Ugh..." Novak suppressed his need to curse out of pain. "You really shouldn't have done that..." Novak looked at the guard. "Get him down on the ground!"

The guard did as he was told as Novak got some handcuffs and put them around Greg's wrists. The guard's hand was still around his mouth. "Give me something to put around his mouth!"

"I don't have anything, you idiot. You said you'd bring something!" Novak rolled his eyes annoyed.

The prison guard was too nervous to remember this without Novak's help. "Yeah... right... right!" He got a cloth out of his pocket and put it around Greg's mouth. The second the guard let his hand off of Greg's mouth, he tried to scream, hoping someone out there would hear him.

"Shut up!" Novak yelled almost louder than Greg as he kicked him in the back. He groaned in pain and stopped yelling. He wasn't heard, anyway. Nobody came to his rescue, it seemed pointless.

Greg tried to sit himself up. He used his feet and his hands he had cuffed behind his back to crawl to a wall, pressing his back against it. He panted exhausted through the cloth in his mouth. The door slowly opened. Greg's eyes filled with hope as he started calling for help again.

"What the hell?" Another guard walked in and closed the door. He looked over to Greg. "What's this?" He walked over to him as Greg started to sob relieved. Help had arrived.

The guard glanced at Novak and his colleague. "What do you think you're doing here?" As he turned around to Greg again, he punched him. "Shut up! You're getting us **all** in big trouble!"

"Hey, who allowed you to touch him?" Novak asked annoyed.

"The deal was that you'll get 20 minutes with him. You're over time. And you're making too much noise."

"He's a little hard to handle, we didn't expect that. Give me another 15 minutes."

The guard looked at his watch annoyed. "Alright. 15 minutes, no more. And you better be done by that time. And tell me when you're ready, I want a piece of him, too." he said as he walked out.

"Yeah yeah I know, you'll get him when I'm done." Novak grinned. He had no intention of sharing Greg with anyone. "Okay, let's do this." Novak and the guard grabbed Greg and pushed him on the ground. He was kicking around rather aimlessly as Novak sat down on him. He laughed, "It's almost like a rodeo!" He grabbed Greg's cheek, put the cloth off of his mouth and kissed him.

"I don't care, open the door!" they heard Nick talking from outside.

"Dammit! Quick, get the door! Tell them he insisted to get some privacy or something!" Novak ordered nervously.

"But..."

"Just do it!"

The guard did as Novak struggled hard with Greg. Greg was already quite weak, but Novak didn't want to make any noise at all. He quickly put the cloth back on Greg's mouth and put his hand on it.

"Is there a problem?" the guard asked as he opened the door, trying to open it as little as possible.

"Yeah, he's in there for a long time. I wanted to check on him."

"He asked for some privacy..."

Nick looked the guard up and down. Something didn't seem right. "Really. Why?"

"He just told me to make sure no one was gonna come in here..."

"Yeah well he can tell me himself..." Nick finally noticed a little blood stain on the guard's hand. He turned around to look at the guard behind him. He had some blood on his hand, too, from when he punched Greg. Nick knew something was wrong and the two guards were not to be trusted. "Alright. But tell him to hurry up." Nick left.

Novak laughed almost uncontrollably. "No one's coming for you. You're MINE now!" He rolled Greg around to take a look at the burn scar on his wrist. "Heh. It's beautiful."

"Put your hands up! Up!" just mere minutes later, they heard someone yell outside. This wasn't a good sign, Novak was sure.

"Damn it! How the hell could that happen?"

The door was opened quickly and several armed guards pointed their guns at Novak and the prison guard. Nick and Brass pointed their guns at Novak as well.

When they entered, Novak was sitting on Greg again, his arms still cuffed behind his back and Novak kissing him. He knew they were coming and thought he'd make the last moment with Greg worthwhile. "Get off of him now... Or I'll shoot you!" Nick threatened.

He laughed. "You don't want to shoot an unarmed man, do you?" He put his hands around Greg's neck, but didn't use any force.

"Get your hands off of him and stand up!" Nick yelled.

Novak looked down on Greg. He grinned as he put his hands off of his neck. Three of the armed prison guards ran over to Novak, dragging him off of Greg. Nick quickly ran over to him, trying to calm and comfort him. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"Just get that off me!" Greg said wailing, waiting to get uncuffed. Nick quickly did what he was asked.

Greg ran out of the visiting room, gasping for air rather jittery. "I should've **killed** him when I had the chance!" he yelled as he cried.

"He's not gonna hurt you again. He won't get the chance. It's okay." Nick gently put his hand on Greg's shoulder.

"You're right... He won't get the chance..." Greg grabbed Nick's gun out of the holster while pushing him back, quickly walking back inside the cell. He pointed the gun at Novak.

"Greg! Don't!" Nick ran after him. "You don't want to do that! You don't have to!"

Greg's hand was shaking. Brass told the armed guards not to shoot Greg.

"You don't have the guts to kill someone, sweetie," Novak said mocking.

"Oh yeah?" Greg sobbed. "You wouldn't be the first." His attempt to intimidate Novak failed, he just laughed.

"Greg! Listen to me! He's not worth it! You think it'll make you feel better but it won't!" Nick was slowly walking up to Greg.

"Get away from me, Nick! I need to do this... Or else it'll never end..."

"It's already over." Nick slowly put his hand on Greg's, disarming him. He put the gun back into the holster.

Novak laughed devilish. "Cowards."

Nick walked straight up to Novak, punched him in the stomach and whispered in his ear. "You're lucky you're surrounded by lots of guards that will put you back in the cell you belong in. If they weren't here I would've killed you myself."

The guards escorted Novak out. Nick put his arms around his friend as Greg cried.

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><p>Greg walked out of the examination room, putting his jacket back on. Nick insisted on taking Greg to the hospital. He didn't want to, but when Nick set his mind on something there was no way to change his mind. Greg wasn't the only one that could be stubborn.<p>

"What'd he say?" Nick got off his seat, trying to help Greg. He was still a little weak-kneed. His back was bruised and hurt like hell.

Greg pulled his arm away as Nick tried to assist him with walking. "I can walk alone," he said rather annoyed. "...Nose's broken."

There were lots of things Nick would've liked to tell Greg. That he was right, that he knew he shouldn't have met with Novak. He knew these things were the last things Greg needed to hear from his best friend right now, but for some reason he wanted to tell him. "...Let's get you home," he said instead.

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><p>Nick parked the car in front of Greg's apartment complex. "I'll drive by tomorrow to check on you, alright? No back talk, it's already decided," Nick said softly as he smiled at Greg.<p>

Greg just sat there, looking down to his feet. He put his hand on the door handle but didn't open it.

"...You want me to walk you inside?"

"Did I thank you already?" Greg asked after a short moment of silence. "If it wasn't for you I'd..."

"It was just good luck, Greg... I'm glad I was being impatient," he joked.

"No, not that. I mean, of course I thank you for that. But... You didn't let me shoot him. If it wasn't for you, I sure would have. And I know I would've regretted that."

Nick just nodded. "I look out for you, man, you know that." He gently patted Greg on the shoulder.

Greg opened the door and slowly got out of the car.

"You sure you don't need any help?"

"...Yup," Greg replied with the pain clearly noticeable in his voice. "See you tomorrow."


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay, so it's already the last chapter! I've got a few stories in the works but haven't decided yet which one I'll upload first, but I'll choose one soon :)**

**Thanks for reading, reviewing, alerting, etc. I really appreciate you guys! :) Enjoy!**

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><p>A week has passed and Greg's been back to work for two days. Russell went easy on him, making sure he wouldn't have to pull a double or work too much overtime.<p>

"Hey guys," Sara and Nick walked into the break room. Hodges and Greg were sitting in the room, chatting.

"Guess what, Greg," Nick said rather cheerful.

"Hm?" He looked up from his cup of chamomile tea.

"Novak gave the DA all the information he claimed he had. They already have three suspects in custody and found most of the bodies!" Sara patted him on the back cheerful.

"That's great." Greg smiled.

"Great? Greg, you helped solve 23 unsolved murders. That's more than just great!"

"She's right, man. You risked your life for this and it was worth it," Nick said slightly bitter. He was kind of angry with Greg that he risked his life for this. Not because he did it despite him warning him, but because he almost died. He thought he was angry because he wouldn't listen to his warning, but in reality he was just scared. He almost lost his best friend when Robin lured Greg into Karen's apartment, and then again, when Novak claimed he just wanted to talk to him. It was hard on him, especially because he had to act strong all the time. He couldn't show his worry and fear, he had to act strong for Greg.

"What, you want me jumping around happily? Don't worry, I'm doing that inside," he joked as he smiled at them.

"Yeah right." Nick laughed.

"Hey guys," Russell said as he walked in with a smile.

"Hey boss. Heard the good news yet?" Nick asked, pretending to be in a good mood.

"Sure," Russell replied with a grin. "There's nothing you guys hear before me!" He sat down at the table. "So Greg, how's working with Robin been so far?"

"It's been good," he replied nodding.

"You're sure? I've watched you interact with each other. Or at least I've tried. There wasn't much interaction going on."

Greg sighed. "What do you expect us to do? 'Oh, you almost got me killed? No biggie. What are you doing next weekend? Wanna watch a movie together'?" Greg replied sarcastically.

Nick, Sara and Hodges looked a bit surprised at Greg.

"What? Come on, guys, I was joking."

"So you didn't process the whole thing yet, have you?" Russell asked interested.

"I didn't say that."

"But you're not denying it, either."

"I don't know, it's been weird. We're trying, but..."

"But what?" Sara asked sympathetically.

"There isn't a handbook for how you handle a situation like that. I'm trying to figure it out," Greg tried to explain. "I talked to her a few days ago, though..."

"How was it?"

"She's avoiding me ever since. I guess she needs some time to think things through, too."

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><p>"You're killing me! You can't be serious!" Nick walked next to Greg angrily and annoyed, almost yelling at him. "Don't do it!"<p>

"I want to." Greg walked into the prison Novak was in. He wanted to talk to him again.

"You have some kind of death wish, is that it? Why are you doing this?" Nick asked frustrated.

"Because. I'm sick of living in fear. He's behind bars, he can't hurt me anymore. I need to face him to really believe it."

"Yeah, that worked out well last time!" Nick said sarcastically. "But I'm going in there with you!"

"Nick, you don't..."

He interrupted him. "I want to. I told you I look out for you and that's what I'm gonna do now. I won't let this guy come anywhere near you."

Greg gave him a sweet smile as they walked towards the visiting room. "This is why I do it."

"...What?"

"You. I can't stand feeling the way I do when you're physically close and I know you can't stand it, either. I want things to be like they used to."

"Greg, don't do this because you think I..."

"No. I owe it you. And myself. Novak can't have that much power over my life. I won't let him."

They both walked into the visiting room and sat down as they waited for Novak.

Novak walked in with a big grin on his face. He had a black eye. "Hey hey, look who's here. My two favorite CSIs." He sat down. A prison guard stood behind him.

"What happened to your face?" Nick asked rather mocking.

"Still looking better than him," Novak replied, hinting at the bruises he caused on Greg's face. "Can I see the burn scar again?"

"Remember the story you told me the last time?" Greg asked as he made sure his wrist was covered with his sleeve. "What was the boy's name? Drew?"

Novak smiled. "Yeah. Drew." He rolled up his sleeves to show a tattoo. It had nine letters written on his forearm. "This one's for him." He pointed at a 'D'. "You were supposed to be number ten. A 'G', right here." He pointed next to the last letter that was written on his arm.

Nick looked at Greg. Disgust and a little bit of fear was clearly visible in his face. The tattoo came as a surprise.

"Well..." Greg said after a short moment of silence. "Your tattoo will remain incomplete. You'll never be able to touch me again."

"We'll see about that," Novak replied confident.

Greg grinned at him. Being able to say this to him was a great feeling. "As soon as the trial's over, our ways will part forever. You'll never see me again and I'll never have to see your sorry face ever again, either."

"Oh come on, you'll still come visit, right? We have a thing going!" Novak laughed devilish.

Greg had a thoughtful smile on his face as he got off his seat.

Novak quickly grabbed Greg's arm. "You're mine, you got that?"

The guard reacted quickly, but Greg signed him not to interfere. "I never was and never will be." Greg shook Novak's hands off and turned around.

As he was walking out, Novak kept shouting at him. "I'll get you! You hear that? You'll be mine!"

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><p>As soon as Novak was out of sight and the doors to the visiting room closed, the confidence in Greg's face faded. He took deep, heavy breaths and started shaking.<p>

Nick didn't notice at first. "You did great, man," he said joyful as he tried to put his hand on Greg's back. Greg flinched. "...What's wrong?" He finally noticed the state his friend was in.

"I'm okay," he replied with a shaky voice.

"...Greg..."

"No, really. It's just..." He turned around to look at Nick. "This was like living my worst nightmare. It feels awful now but it'll help me soon. Trust me."

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><p>Greg was right. Confronting Novak really helped him a lot. He wasn't scared without an apparent reason anymore. He didn't see Nick's face instead of Novak's when he occasionally dreamed about the incident. Being physically close to Nick wasn't a problem anymore. He made progress with his psychiatrist. Everything seemed to be slowly getting back to normal. Especially after the trial was finished, Greg was able to get his normal life back. He stopped thinking about this everyday.<p>

The DA was not able to find enough convincing evidence to prove that Karen tampered with any evidence. She didn't have to go to jail, but she lost her job. Her and Robin were still a couple, but things have been rough between the two. Right now, Robin was just glad Karen wouldn't have to go to jail, but all the things that happened strained their relationship.

Novak was found guilty, not only for what he did to Greg, but also the murders he gave information to because Greg was willing to talk to him. He actually kept his word on this one. Because of all the murders he committed, and the gruesome things he wanted to do to Greg, he received the death penalty. But everybody knew, it could take years before he was executed. If it ever happened. But that didn't matter to Greg. He just wanted him to be locked away, where he could never harm anyone. For now, anyway.

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><p>Ende.<p> 


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